Of Blood, Bane and the Ties that Bind
by Yuhi Sakura
Summary: Sasuke wanted nothing more than to return to Konoha, declare his love for Sakura, and rebuild his clan. But Sakura has other ideas...as do Oto and the rest of Konoha. Will true love conquer all? Or fade like a withered cherry blossom?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Return

Disclaimer: I don't own naruto!

Tsunade surveyed the Uchiha before her. And by his appearance, he had obviously lost to his eldest brother.

"And you just expect me to let you walk back in?" She asked.

Truth be told, after all the time and effort put into finding him, he had. But rather than let on, he replied, "I'll accept whatever punishment you see fit."

The corners of Tsunade's mouth turned up.

"Good. Report to training field seven at six."

He turned to leave.

"And, Sasuke, you had better be there."

He stiffend with the unspoken threat, then nodded and elt under the escort of several ANBU.

* * *

Sakura—for reasons she didn't understand—double checked the holster on her thigh. 

It was because Kakashi was on time and instinct told her—subconsciously—that it was serious.

And then they saw him….

"Sakura, Naruto, I believe no introduction are needed. As punishment for his crimes, he will be forced to undergo a three step assimilation program. The first level entails a reintroduction into his former cell. You can talk, spar, anything to clear the air." Kakashi said.

Sakura smiled as she stepped forward.

"Naruto," She said as she loosened her headband and tossed her hair, "hold this."

"Uh, Sakura…!" He gaped as he caught the hitai-ate.

"You had your chance." She replied, "It's my turn."

Kakashi opened his mouth but was cut short when Sakura added, "Do either of you care to stop me?"

Sasuke, arrogant of his strength and sure of his weakness, imagined they wouldn't challenge her to spare her complex.

So when she took her place, he felt it necessary to ask why she wasn't wearing her headband.

And she said, "Because that would mean we're fighting as friends and comrades on equal ground."

'She's as bad as Naruto.' Sasuke thought.

"Well, have it your way." He shrugged.

"Enough talk." Sakura sanpped.

"When you're ready." Kakashi said.

Sakura wasted no time: Charging the Uchiha, she tossed several shuriken.

Sasuke, seeing the line each was trailing, played his katana in a circle—snapping them.

As expected, they snapped back at the kunoichi. But rather than evade them, she flipped into the air; sinking the razor ends into two nearby trees—slingshotting herself back at the shinobi and sinking her foot right into his jaw.

Kakashi saw the slightest flicker of blue in her keirakukei. He knew she _never_ used her monstrous strength when fighting comrades or in exhibition matches—she could kill someone. But this wasn't a friendly comparision of techniques…she was fighting for something more important.

Her nindo.

* * *

Sasuke forced his jaw back into place and watched with irritation as Sakura calmly extracted two gloves from her hip holster and slid them over her slender wrists. 

He was not going to use his sharigan on _her_.

'So she learned a new trick.' He reasoned.

Launching a kunai at her, he charged Sakura.

Giving into honed instinct, she closed her eyes and ducked. Realizing his mistake, Sasuke tried t stop, but by then she had pulled into a handstand and hand him clamped firmly between her calves.

Sakura spun and loosened her grip, sending him sprawling into a the branches of a tree several meters away.

And while she was sure he was dazed, formed a Shadow Clone and dove into the bushes.

'She's good…' Sasuke admitted as he vaulted himself for better cover.

But pride wouldn't allow him to use his kekkei genkai. Instead he crept around her, striking the nerve at the base of her neck in one fell swoop.

"Checkmate." He smirked.

And then the clone burst into rapidly thinning smoke.

"Behind you!"

Sasuke turned to meet a blow hard enough to send him in the opposite direction but before he could stumble very far, Sakura had flipped—catching him under the jaw and flipping him a full circle.

When he opened his eyes, she was straddling his hips and hauling him up by his collar.

"How do you like it, you bastard!?" She screamed as she punched him, her carefully maintained façade cracking for the first time.

"You…left…us…to rot!" Sakura yelled as she continued to land blows to his handsome face.

"Well, not it's my turn." She hissed as she pulled him close, "You're a sad, pathetic excuse for a shinobi who doesn't know the definition of hard work and who would rather take short-cuts no matter what it costs others. You disgust me."

Then she threw him back, took her headband from Naruto, and knotted it back in place as she declared she was going to get lunch.

"Sakura, wait!" Naruto cried as he followed after with Kakashi closely behind.

No one gave Sasuke a second glance.

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Chapteeer Two: Distance

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…

**Note: I am a Sakura fanfiction writer! I don't want to hear about how she sucks and really should write about Hinata or Anko. If you don't like it, don't read it!**

* * *

Sakura wandered down the street as if nothing had happened, talking to her friends before takinga seat at Ichiraku and putting in an order.

Sai, having heard the rapidly spreading news, caught Naruto and Kakashi as they raced after her.

"Is is true?" He asked.

Kakashi nodded.

"Is Sakura alright?"

"She just got done with him…I've never seen her like that." Naruto replied.

"Look, the best thing we can do for her, is be there. So we're going to go to lunch and have a good time." Kakashi said as he lead the two shinobi by their shoulders.

They each pulled up a stool and placed various orders for ramen.

And although they chatted, Sakura ate in silence-raising her bowl when she wanted a refill and paying for the group before walking away.

* * *

Sasuke didn't move for a long time after.

And when he did, he simply wandered in a numb aimless way.

She was right…

But he wanted the chance to talk to her. To explain….to be forgiven…

* * *

Sakura stiffened at the sound of Sasuke's voice and froze when he ran up behind her.

"Sakura…please…" He reached for her shoulder.

If she had faced him, he would have seen the tendril of blood running from the corner of her mouth where she had bitten into her lip.

She couldn't restrain herself for much longer…

"Sakura! Don't!" Sai called as he forced himself between them.

He hadfelt the build-up and had seen her attempts to control herself. But he also knew that building up and releasing chakra were chakra was second nature to her and therefore restricting that flow was more difficult than unleashing it. So if she was trying so hard and still losing control, someone could get seriously hurt—even killed.

"Come on." He added as he gently pulled her away.

Sasuke made no attempt to follow.

* * *

It was getting dark when Sai finally got Sakura home.

"Here, let me." He offered when she made a move to wipe the blood from her chin.

Tearing a small piece from his shirt, he clean the coagulating liquid from her chin.

"Thank you." She replied.

"I guess I won't be part of you cell anymore…" He trailed off.

"Sai!" She exclaimed as she embraced him, "Don't be ridiculous! _You're_ my teammate."

"Thank you, Sakura." He said as he returned he favor. "But it's been a long day and we should all get some rest."

* * *

Sasuke watched from a distance, perfectly aware of the fact that Tsunade was leaning casually behind him.

"You didn't expect her to wait forever, did you?" She asked.

"No, I didn't." He sighed.

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: Late Night Encounters

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto

Rather than take Sai's advice, Sakura went to the training grounds with the intention of getting in some target practice.

But it wasn't long before Sasuke found her.

"We need to talk." He said.

"Sasuke, I know I didn't fight you as an equal, but you have no idea what I can do." She replied without turning to face him.

"Then show me."

Sakura pulled a kunai and drove it into her leg without so much as a second thought.

"Sak...Sakura…" He stammered out of concern.

Her chakra-haloed hand passed over the tear and a moment later nothing remained of the wound.

"A medic…" It was fitting for a person like her.

Then she faced him, pulling the lower zipper of her shirt up.

Even in the moonlight he could see the scar that marred her otherwise perfect stomach.

"I was lucky. Most of my wounds were physical. It's people like Naruto who were hurt the worst." She smiled sadly.

"H…How?" Sasuke asked.

"How isn't important. What is important is that you learn to stay away from me. I want to forgive you…but after all that's happened, I don't think that will be possible.

The moonlight filtering through her eyes told him everything: They were the same as the night he left…only harder—more mature and determined.

"Sakura, please…" He began.

"No, Sasuke. No more chances, no more excuses." She replied as she brushed past him.

* * *

Naruto was also out late and by some chance, Sasuke ran into him.

"Oh, hey! Sasuke!" The blonde smirked without inhibition of any kind.

"Naruto, would you please tell me about Sakura." He asked.

The Jinchuuriki's eyes softened.

"She suffered a lot. She took most of the emotional pain and plenty of physical blows. But she never gave up, even when we thought it would kill her."

"But she said the same about you!" The Uchiha responded.

"Well, that's the thing. She stopped taking care of herself." Naruto replied.

"She looks fine." Sasuke protested.

Naruto shook his head. "Her heart. And I hate to say it, but up until yesterday, she was getting better."

"I see." Sasuke said as he turned to leave.

Naruto grabbed his shoulder, "If you leave again, she'll never forgive you."

"She already hates me."

"Time heals all wounds." Naruto replied.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four: An Executive Decision

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Sakura answered the door the next morning to find Kakashi on her porch.

"We have practice today." He told her.

"I know, I have a hospital shift." She replied.

Sakura knew that he checked her schedule before arranging group training but she hoped he wouldn't call her bluff.

"Well, if yours ends early, try and stop by."

* * *

After much thought, Sakura decided she wasn't going to lose practice over Sasuke and grabbed her gear.

It only took a few minutes to reach the training grounds and they were still tossing weaponry at targets, so she hadn't missed any of the sparring.

"I see you got out early." Kakashi said with an eye crease.

"Yeah. Slow day." She smirked.

"You're just in time for our hand-to-hand matches." He added.

"Great!" She shrugged.

"Alright…Sai, I want you with Sakura and Naruto can go with Sasuke."

They paired off and began…each eager to hone their skills a bit more.

And although Sai was nervous at first, he quickly realized that she wasn't going to use anything more than basic taijutsu.

Naruto, noting the absences of successive earthquakes and chunks of flying earth, called to her—asking if she was alright.

"Why?" Sasuke inquired, noticing nothing abnormal.

"Well, usually…"

"Naruto!" Sakura snapped.

The blonde turned to Kakashi, who nodded in agreement with the kunoichi.

So Naruto dropped the subject completely.

And Sasuke felt a little more alienated.

* * *

Tsunade had expected bad blood between plenty of people. But she need her best cell back in the field. She hated to do it, but she needed to…

Calling for Shizune, she signed the missions sheets and scrawled in the cell number and members.

* * *

Tsunade concluded the briefing, handed out the scrolls containing missions parmaters and asked if there were any questions.

"Yes," Sakura volunteered, "I don't believe that this is an effective cell and would like to request a transfer."

"I'm sorry, Sakura, but you're the only combat nin'i on call." The Fifth replied.

"Now, if that's all, please be ready for departure this evening." She added.

* * *

As was expected of her, Sakura was at the gate—her supplies tucked neatly in her pack—ready for dispatch. And so were Naruto, Sai, Sasuke and Kakashi.

"Good. Now, get going." Tsunade smiled as she waved them off.

TBC


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five: Subtle Shades of Gray pt.1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Sakura winced as her stomach spasmed painfully.

Her eyes instinctively drifted to the scar that—although hidden by her scarlet shirt—marred her torso.

She had been prone to debilitating cramps ever since her battle with Sasori. Tsunade believed it was due to a bit of scar tissue lining her uterus. It could be fixed at a later time, but until then she would have to rely on her skills as a medic to combat the pain.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Naruto called back.

'Shit!' She thought, realizing she had dropped out of formation.

"Yeah! Fine!" She replied sunnily as she fell back into alignment.

"Sakura, slow down if you need to." Sai whispered as he caught up to her.

She had never told anyone about her ailment. Not even Kakashi knew the details of her battle with the former Akasuki—but Sai had noticed it on a particularly long mission several months back and had taken it upon himself to watch her back.

She couldn't help but smile at his concern, he was like the brother she had never had. And she loved him—not romantically, but certainly platonically.

"I'm fine." She insisted.

"You're a horrible liar." He smirked.

"Thanks." She replied with mock dryness.

"We're only a day from Suna now!" Naruto cried happily, oblivious to Sakura and Sai's conversation.

"How is Gaara of the Desert?" Sasuke asked.

"I think you mean Lord Kazekage." Sai replied.

Sasuke visibly blanched.

"It'll be nice to see Gaara-sama again." Sakura reminisced.

Sasuke gaped. For her to so blatantly refer to a Kage by their name—such disrespect coming from Sakura was unimaginable.

"Surprised?" Kakashi asked with an eye crease. "They're very close. Like siblings."

"I see." The Uchiha nodded.

'How strong as she grown?' He wondered.

* * *

As expected, they reached Suna with time to spar. And Gaara—although surprised to see Sasuke—quickly had rooms ready for them.

With Kakashi and Naruto down the hall and two halls back, Sasuke figured it was as good a time as ever to try and speak with her.

Knocking gently, he heard her reply "Come in."

She obviously didn't know who it was, but he wasn't going to lose such a perfect opportunity. So he stepped inside.

"Oh….Sasuke…." She trailed off indifferently. "Can I help you?"

"Look, Haruno…" He immediately knew he had made a huge mistake.

"Don't slander my family name with your tongue." She snapped.

"Sak…"

"My name is reserved for my friends."

"What will it take for me to be able to talk to you?" He sighed in exasperation.

"Sasuke…"

"I've changed. I'm not the same person you used to know. I'm different, just as different as you are."

"And that's why we can't be friends. Because I've changed." She replied quietly.

"Sakura! Please, I'm asking for ten minutes…"

"I'm sorry." She said as she brushed past him before he could see the wavering in her eyes.

* * *

Sakura ordered the most potent thing she was legally allowed to ingest and sat back. She wanted desperately to listen to him…to comfort him…maybe even hold him…but that wasn't possible. Just being in the same room hurt….

"Sakura."

She turned to the familiar voice.

"Kakashi." She nodded.

"What are you doing here alone. It's dangerous for you to be out alone at night."

Sakura growled, leaving no confusion as to the fact he had better rectify his statement.

"I'm not questioning your abilities, just your tolerance for alcohol." He replied.

"Well don't."

"You've been quiet."

"And?"

"We're just a little worried about you."

"Your concerns are misplaced."

"Are they? You've hardly left your apartment since Sasuke returned."

"Kakashi." She growled again, warning him to back off.

"I can't have my cell malfunctioning."

"I see." Sakura stood, her voice slightly higher than before. "So this is about _your_ cell."

"Sakura…"

"No, Kakashi, no more. I'm sick of hearing about Naruto and Sasuke's progress. I get it. I doesn't matter how far I go, it will never be good enough for you because you have the infamous Uchiha Sasuke and the maverick Uzumaki Naruto. Well, guess what, I don't need any of you. Not the way you've needed me, to heal your every wound, to siphon out the poisons you encounter. I'm your fall back plan. That's all I'll ever be for you. And guess what? Your fall back just walked out." She replied before turning and walking through the doors.

* * *

Sakura packed her things, told Gaara she was heading home, left a note for Naruto and Sai, and headed back towards Konoha.

She was sick of being the weak one…no matter how strong she was. And she was done catering to them in hopes of eventual acceptance.

* * *

Kakashi had thought it wise to give her some space and let her cool down. But when Gaara informed him off her unplanned departure, he realized that had been the last thing she needed because she had interpreted his distance as a 'yes.'

Naruto and Sai naturally panicked, but Sasuke made the decision to pursue her, telling Kakashi, Naruto, and Sai that they still needed to complete the mission. He would be fine.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.

"It's not an issue." The Uchiha replied.

"Watch out for her right hook." Sai shrugged.

'What?' Sasuke thought, but thinking better of it, he didn't ask questions.

* * *

Sakura swung herself upon onto a branch and continued without so much as a second thought—she moved instinctually now.

Not like in her genin days…

'No!' She though furiously. The last thing she was going to do was let _them_ bother her.

But…maybe she was bothering herself…maybe….maybe she was still hurting…maybe she still lacked the confidence they had…

Maybe…they just weren't ready. Maybe none of them were ready….

She sank back against a tree trunk, wrapping her arms around her chest and weeping.

Why couldn't she move past what she _was_? Why couldn't she see herself the way Lady Tsunade did?

TBC

**_Sorry about the sad end. But its not over yet! Sakura is just now coming to terms with her own emotions. But maybe a certain Uchiha can help her along. Hint, Hint..._**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six: Late Night Encounters pt.2

Disclaimer: I do not nor ever shall own Naruto!

Sasuke heard a faint, vaguely familiar sound on the wind, but instinctively reached for the hilt of his katana.

It wasn't until he was within feet of Sakura that he realized it was her at all…

Her chakra control—even emotionally distraught as she was—was flawless and he hadn't sensed it until he was right on top of her. She was maintaining her masking chakra subconsciously, he realized.

"Sakura…" He breathed gently, unwilling to startle her.

"Sa…Sasuke? What…what are you doing here?" She asked.

"Coming after you." He smiled.

"I don't need your protection, if that's what you think." She replied.

"I know you don't." He assured her as he scooted in beside her, "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"The great Uchiha Sasuke comforting me? What ulterior motives could you possibly have?" She asked bitterly.

"No ulterior motives." He said, holding his hands up to show no offense had been taken. "Just a friend wanting to help another friend."

"Friend?" Sakura snapped.

"Let me help you. The way you tried to help me." He said, drawing her close against the night air.

"I don't have to remind you I failed."

"But that was entirely my fault. This time it'll work." He promised.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because you can't stand to lose and I can't stand to cause any more pain to the people I love." Sasuke replied, feeling very uncomfortable at revealing so much of himself but knowing he had without a doubt proven he was a different person.

"I'm….I'm willing to try." Sakura said reluctantly, feeling past hurts rising to the surface.

"Thank you." He said, holding her close and resting his head on top of her's.

Feeling her stomach spasm again, she winced.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"My stomach." She replied.

Sasuke frowned. He had seen her wince a few times and she had fumbled twice when reaching for a branch, but he hadn't seen her seriously injured…

And then he remembered the scar…

"Is it from…What happened to you?"

"We were going after Gaara—Akasuki had taken him for the Bijuu. I wound up fighting their puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sand. I got in the way…"

Sasuke knew a wound like that would have caused massive hemorrhaging, internal damage and death within a matter of minutes. It was a miracle she had survived. But he wasn't going to force her to relive more of what had surely been a difficult and painful battle.

He didn't know what to say. So instead of words, he held her while she cried out her fears and hurts, let her weep uninhibited.

"Come on. They'll be getting worried." Sasuke finally said when she was done, offering her a hand.

"Alright." She sighed, taking his hand and pulling herself up.

It was the beginning….

TBC

* * *

So what do you think? I know I sped it up, but I needed to. You'll forgive me eventually...promise! 


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven: The Ambush

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Kakashi was quick to apologize to Sakura and admitted that he had ignored her, but swore he would never underestimate her again. Naturally, Naruto pulled her into an embrace so tight Sasuke was forced to intervene and swore he would kick Kakashi's ass the next time he upset her.

Sai, quiet as usual, stood by in the corner—the corner of his lips turned up.

It was about time…

* * *

Several days later, cell seven moved out for Konoha.

"I can't wait to get home. Ichiraku here I come!" Naruto yelled as he leapt from a branch.

"I'm going to take a hot shower and sleep for the next twenty-four hours." Sakura replied.

"I was thinking about getting in some training. Wanna push your cat-nap back?" Sasuke smirked.

"Maybe." Sakura replied with feigned indifference so fake even Sasuke couldn't help but grin.

"Tsk…Tsk…letting your guards down so easily?"

The thrown cell halted, reaching for weaponry.

Kabuto smirked. How easily they fell into his trap…

"Oto…scatter…" The nin'i said.

The Leaf shinobi found themselves surrounded, dodging weaponry and taijutsu attacks before they realized what was happening.

"Sai!" Sakura cried, ramming into the ninja with enough force to send him sprawling away from the poison coated senbon bearing down on him.

'Can't dodge!...' Sakura realized as she flicked a shuriken into the silver rain.

The star cleared a path large enough for her to slip through.

Behind her, Naruto was drilling his Rasengan into several shinobi and Sasuke was tearing through their ranks with a variation of Chidori.

"Cover me!" Sakura called to Kakashi, who nodded in response as he fell in behind her.

'I have to take out Kabuto!' She thought, the lack of chakra in the attacking squadron telling her they were reanimations of corpses. And that meant he was pulling all of the strings.

Leaping into the tree, Sakura lunged at the medic, her hands glowing with the force of the chakra scalpel they maintained.

"Sweet little Sakura…" Kabuto sneered derisively.

'We'll see how sweet I am.' She thought with a smirk as she tossed a handful of shuriken at him.

Swinging under the branch, Kabuto charged her, his hands holding the same aura.

Kakashi watched from below as Sakura parried his mystic palm with her own—each looking for an opening with which to land a decisive hit.

"Kakashi!"

He slammed into the ground before he could register the blur as friend or foe—but it was Sai pushing him down under a blade that would have ripped through his throat.

"Watch yourself." The shinobi said as he retreated to help Naruto.

Sasuke was tempted to aid Sakura, but he would just get in the way if they continued with the close quarters combat they both excelled at. Turning his attention to where it would be most useful, he went to finish off an incoming platoon.

* * *

Sakura blocked Kabuto's thrust and dropped, sweeping her leg around. But Kabuto was fast, flipping over the extended limb and cartwheeling at her.

'Dammit…' She thought as she flipped into a handstand.

Kabuto grabbed her as she pulled back, slinging her over his shoulder.

Twisting, Sakura planted her feet on the branch and threw her weight forward. Kabuto sprawled, regaining his balance as Sakura's hand flew past his cheek, ripping his face open.

'Bitch…' He cursed as he attacked her with renewed ferocity.

But as he leapt forward, he cued the ground squadron.

* * *

Sasuke followed after an escaping Sound shinobi, tearing through him easily before turning to face the next wave.

He didn't feel the wire at his feet slip.

* * *

"This is it!" Sakura yelled as she threw her fist forward.

"Are you sure?" He smiled, glancing at Sasuke.

Sakura spun…..

An explosive tag…!

"Sasuke!" She yelled as she dropped from the trees, shielding him from the sunburst of white-hot light that emanated from the tag moments later.

He flew back into the bushes, completely disoriented. He was vaguely aware that he no longer sensed Sai, Naruto, or Kakashi…but they also weren't dead as he could still feel their residual trails.

Sakura lay sprawled out beside him, curled against herself in unconsciousness.

"Sakura! Sakura!" He cried, shaking her as he sat up.

"Sa…Sas….Sasuke! I can't see you!" She replied.

Sasuke flipped her onto her back, wondering what she was talking about.

His heart rose in his throat….

Sakura's eyes streamed blood from beneath bruised lids.

She was blind….

TBC


	8. Chapter 8

_Chapter Eight: Of the Sounds Angels Sing_

Disclaimer: You know I don't own Naruto!

"Sasuke! Sasuke!" Sakura cried, panicking.

"Shhh….It'll be alright." He replied, stroking her hair as he scanned for enemy shinobi. But the trap had apparently forced them to flee along with the rest of Cell Seven.

Now, he had to get them out of there. Suna was two days behind them and Konoha was at least another forty-eight in front of them considering Sakura's injury and the high probability of being shadowed and attacked.

"Hold on." He said as he lifted her onto his back and took off in the opposite direction—into the safety of the uncharted forests surrounding the large expanse between Sand and Leaf.

* * *

Sasuke stopped several hours later as the sun set behind them.

"Sakura, can you heal yourself?" He asked.

"I think so…but I won't be able to see for a few days…." She replied.

"It's alright. Just do what you can."

"Sasuke…" She whispered as she gripped the shoulder of his shirt, "Please don't leave me."

"I won't." He promised as he settled in beside her.

* * *

Sakura had fallen asleep shortly after repairing her severely burned eyes.

With her resting, the Uchiha decided to position himself in the trees—where the better vantage point would help him detect an enemy presence.

And at some point he must have drifted off…because Sakura panicked when she awoke. Luckily, she had the mind not to scream or vocalize her hysteria and was quick to mask her chakra signatures again.

It was then that she found his chakra signature.

Forcing her breathing back to a normal rate, she curled back against the tree and tried to remember what Tsunade had taught her: During her training, Tsunade often told Sakura not to close her eyes—because in a real battle it would mean death. But that obviously meant they were exposed and vulnerable to any debris or light-based attack.

In case she ever found herself in such a position, Tsunade had taught her how to use her chakra to sense the world around her: A type of echolocation.

But it also announced her position to anyone within a ten mile radius and was to be used only for emergencies. No matter how badly she freaked she could _**not **_use it!

"Sasuke…" She whispered.

He materialized beside her a moment later.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

"Sorry…I panicked…"

"It's alright. I should have told you where I was." He sighed.

"But I'll remember next time." He smiled as he ruffled her hair.

Sakura nodded, leaning her head against his chest and falling back into a deep sleep.

* * *

"I want them both!" Kabuto yelled.

"The girl was injured…we stand a chance of finding them.

"Chance? You will!" The nin'i shouted.

The frightened subordinates assured him they would and scampered out of the room.

'Like rats…' He thought with a smirk.

* * *

Sakura woke up again, drifting between consciousness and a nightmare…she couldn't see…couldn't feel..couldn't hear…

Jarring herself to awareness she reached instinctively for a weapon.

"Sakura!"

She felt her hand pushed down and a sudden rush as she was pulled into Sasuke's arms.

"It was just a nightmare. You're fine."

She resisted the urge the cry, the saline stinging her wounded eyes and making the tearing worse.

"I hate being like this." She sobbed.

"Like what?"

"Helpless…a hinderance…"

And the dreaded one…

"Weak."

"Don't ever say that again!" Sasuke snapped, then softening, he added, "We lean on each other so that no one's ever weak."

"We'll be alright." He promised.

"How can you be so sure?"

"You seem to ask that a lot. I just am, Sakura." He smiled.

For some reason, it seemed good enough…better than good…

Perfect.

* * *

"We've found them." The Oto nin whispered as she cued her squadron forward.

* * *

Sasuke heard it first…

The light snap of dead material beneath the careful feet of shinobi.

"Sakura, we have to go." He told her as he lifted her arm around his shoulder, supporting her around the waist with his free hand.

"They're too close." Sakura replied, feeling their chakras manifest. "Save yourself."

"I don't think so." He responded as he stepped forward.

"I'm slowing you down. Go!" She snapped.

"You really are annoying."

"If my chirping gets you to safety I think I can deal with it." She replied dryly.

"I said no, I mean no."

"Stubborn fool!" She exclaimed.

"Would you have it any other way?" He smiled.

She opened her mouth and stopped…

Of course not…because Sasuke without a snide comment or an ego to rival Neji's wouldn't be Sasuke.

"See." He smirked as he leapt into the trees, "I was right."

* * *

Sasuke set Sakura down and took her hand as he led her through the brush.

"Run." He told her.

She stopped, feeling the dense brush around her even without her eyes.

"I can't see."

"I'll be your eyes."

He pulled her forward through the thorny bushes, clearing paths for her to follow by trailing his residual chakra signatures. And allow there were some close calls, she never hit at branch or had a thorn tear into her skin.

Some hours later, Sasuke finally said, "I think we've lost them."

"I think so." Sakura agreed.

That's when she felt a chakra manifest behind her.

Reacting on pure instinct, she spun, driving her chakra-haloed at the person.

"Sakura! No!" Sasuke cried.

He dove at her, pushing her away from Kakashi and cushioning her fall.

"Sasuke!" She cried, not realizing he was the one holding her.

"It's me!" He told her.

"Sakura, what' wrong?" Kakashi asked as he knelt beside her.

"I can't see." She replied.

"That flash grenade burned her eyes. She healed herself but she may not be able to see for a few more days." Sasuke added.

"We've been searching up and down for you. So when the Oto nin moved we followed after them. But we were discovered and forced to take them out." Kakashi told them, "Tsunade has reinforcements on the way."

"What about Naruto and Sai?" Sakura asked.

"They're in the clearing on watch."

Their was a sudden skitter in the grass and while Sasuke and Sakura readied themselves for a fight, Kakashi bent to pick up a mouse.

"Sai's calling." He told them simply, helping Sakura to her feet.

They didn't have to walk far before Naruto was happily crying out to her.

But when she turned in the opposite direction of his face, he realized something was wrong.

"Sakura…what happened?" Sai asked as he cupped her face.

"Nothing that can't be fixed." She smiled as she hugged him and then embraced Naruto.

But when the time came to move out, it was Sasuke's hand that she took.

TBC


	9. Chapter 9

_Chapter Nine: In the Enemy's Embrace_

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!

Sakura turned over in her sleep and found herself in someone's arms. The chakra was vaguely familiar--enough so that for a moment she wondered why Sasuke was in the room. But no...it was cold and hard...too much like the edge of a kunai.

"Kabuto!" She snapped.

"That's right, my little cherry blossom." He smirked as he shut down her keirakukei network.

Sakura writhed, his face blurred by her damaged retina. Forcing chakra into her eyes despite the excruciating pain it caused, she watched him come into focus.

Mentally wincing, she brought her knee into his groin before sprining away from the bed.

The groaning clone dissipated into a cloud of rapidly thinning smoke.

Sakura ducked before she had time to consciously register the fact that he was behind her. Throwing her weight to the right, she brought her leg around as she pulled into a rather awkward handstand.

Kabuto planted his hand firmly on the tile and twisted away from her attack.

'Think, think, think!' Sakura screamed at herself as she reached for the weapon she always kept strapped to her thigh.

* * *

Sasuke had at first resisted the impulse to check on Sakura...but finally gave in.

Rapping lightly on her door, he heard a faint sound come from the bedroom.

Figuring she was asleep, he turned to leave. Until he heard the distinctly familiar sound of a kunai meeting wood. Slipping in through her window, he charged in between the battling nin'i.

'Perfect.' Kabuto thought as he side stepped Sasuke blade and calmly brought his chakra-haloed hand towards the Uchiha's spine.

"No!" Sakura cried as she parried the chakra scalpel with her own.

"Isn't that cute?" The Yakushi sneered, "Fighting to defend each other."

Sakura didn't reply as she pulled another weapon from beneath the hem of her silk slip.

Likewise, Sasuke channeled his Raikiri into the blade.

"Well now, if you aren't going to play fair...neither am I!"

Sasuke saw an ominous black chakra begin to emerge from his former servant...Orochimaru's chakra...

"Move!" He yelled as he grabbed Sakura and hoisted her away from the blast.

'Aid will arrive any minute, time to finishi it.' Kabuto thought as he sprang at them.

Taking Sasuke out, he let his dead weight pull Sakura too the ground before he knocked her out with a medical ninjutsu.

* * *

Sakura groaned as she forced herself up.

"Sasuke? Are you alright?" She asked as he sat up beside her.

"Fine." He replied shortly.

This obviously wasn't a pleasure trip: Their cell was dark, damp, and reeked of mildew.

"I see you're awake."

Sakura shot Kabuto a glance that dripped with hatred.

"We can begin soon enough." He laughed.

_TBC_


	10. Chapter 10

_Chapter Ten: Kabuto's Intent_

Disclaimer: Who thinks I own Naruto? I'll kill them!!!!!!!! All the honor goes to Mashashi Kishimoto.

Sasuke never saw the hypodermic needle coming and it wasn't until he felt the pain of the jab that he realized he and Sakura weren't alone.

The mixture took effect too quickly for him to do anything other than watch as Kabuto bore down on him.

"Sasuke!" Sakura lunged at her enemy but he was faster, pushing her aside with enough force to knock her unconscious.

"Hold still, Sasuke..." He sneered as he very carefully lowered a seperate needle into the Uchiha's eye.

He couldn't move...he was paralyzed...but the pain was very real.

Kabuto withdrew in a moment, carrying with him the vial of fluid he had drawn. Then he knelt beside Sakura and took a sample of her chakra, sealing in a tag he could use in his experiments.

* * *

Kabuto took the sample he had and returned to his lab. He had a lot of work to do.

Taking the souless body from the life support tanks he had designed for Orochimaru, he began to operate on the glossy, lifeless eyes.

With all the ease and accuracy experience brought him, he removed the orbs and very carefully injected each with Sasuke's orbal fluid.

Then he took a smaller sample of Sakura's chakra and combined it with his own to rid the eyes of their original DNA. Finally, he integrated Sasuke's and watched as the eyes flashed crimson for a brief moment.

* * *

Sakura rubbed the base of her skull as she sat up.

"Sasuke!" She cried, remembering the paralytic he had been injected with. Kneeling beside him she spun an orb of chakra and forced it into his system.

'Flush the cellular fluid free of the toxin and withdraw it...' She thought as she preformed a variant of the Toxin Removal Jutsu.

Sasuke winced as he felt something tear free.

"Sorry..." Sakura replied as she helped him sit up with her free arm, "Give me a moment and I'll heal you."

He watched as the dark liquid flowing through her chakra was broken down into what he could only assume was water and oxygen. Then she brought the same orb around to the tear in his side and within ten seconds it was completely gone.

"Now, for your eye."

He had forgotten about that...

"Hold still and please suppress your chakra so it doesn't interfere with mine."

He did as he was asked.

"This might feel weird, but don't move."

She was right about that: It felt like water was working its way into his eye in warm tendrils. It wasn't unpleasant...just unaccoustmed.

"There." She smiled as she pulled back.

"What about you?" He asked, motioning to a line of blood running from her forehead.

"Oh, this?" She said, "It's just a scalp wound. It's worse than it looks."

"What?"

"Err...looks worse than it is." Sakura said, "My bad."

Sasuke huffed, turning away in frustration. Was there anything that got her down?

"You don't heal the way Kabuto or Tsunade does." He commented.

"Hmm..." Sakura thought for a moment, "I don't know why that would be."

"I do."

Sasuke shifted his weight, kneeling in front of Sakura protectively.

"I heal by regenerating my own cells. But when I heal someone else, I'm forced to simply mend the two edge of the wound and bring them together. You, Sakura, you heal by mending individual cells and meshing those together using the clean edges as the framework."

"What the hell do you want?" Sasuke demanded.

"I'm getting to it." Kabuto assured him. "You, Sakura, I'm sure are aware of the potential of stem cells."

Sakura ground her teeth together. Of course she did...and she knew the evil they could be used for.

"I've discovered a process that allows me to remove the DNA in a particular cell and inject it with a new set...Using your chakra."

"How!?" Sakura yelled.

"Like I said, you heal by mending individual cells, you don't do it consciously, it is a mixture of your own unique chakra signature and your brand of control. But I've found a way to replicate that. I simply dissect all of the cells, cutting them apart and destroying the DNA code, then, using your chakra, I heal them and inject them with a new DNA encodement. In this case, the encryption for the Sharigan."

"You bastard!" Sakura spat.

Sasuke had gathered little from the exchange but understood that Kabuto was manufacturing the sharigan.

'If he can do that with the sharigan, then he can replicate the anything! The byakugan...even Shino's ability to house, harvest, and control insects.' Sakura thought. 'I can't let that happen.'

Shoving Sasuke aside, she charged the medic, her fist drawn back.

"Did you honestly think I'd make it that easy?" He asked with a smirk, knowing the bars would hold even against her.

Sakura's eyes narrowed.

"What the...!" Kabuto leapt away from the manifesting chakra.

Wiping blood from a laceration in his cheek, he glared at the pink-haired kunoichi.

'Not only did she create a blade long enough to reach me, but she maintained it long enough to do damage. If I hadn't moved, she would have cut my jugular.'

Sakura smiled. A smile that spoke quite clearly: Don't fuck with me, Yakushi, and don't underestimate me.

"I'll have to watch out for you." He muttered quietly.

"Yeah," Sakura spoke as she crossed her arms, having heard him, "You do."

TBC


	11. Chapter 11

_Chapter Eleven: Discord Between the Two_

Disclaimer: Sighs...do I have to say it again? Fine...I don't own Naruto!

Following every medical precaution he knew, Kabuto was sure to have them both knock-out with a low-grade nerve gas before he entered the cell and had Sasuke dragged to his lab.

Tying the Uchiha down with several chakra ropes, he began taking the cells he would need from his eyes, skin, and his major internal organs. Sure, it was messy and time-consuming, but he needed that DNA.

Sighing to himself, he realized with a slight annoyance that if this worked, he would have to do the same to entire host of shinobi and kunoichi from dozens of nations.

Sighing again, he reminded himself it would _all _be his soon enough.

'Patience,' He thought as he took a slice of Sasuke's liver, 'Patience.'

* * *

Sakura paced her cell while she waited, double checking it for any weakness or oversight she might be able to exploit. When that failed, she thought about how to generate an internal antidote to the nervous gases Kabuto used--but there were hundreds of _known _gases, let alone the ones Kabuto would probably have synthesized. And it would take months...years, to memorize, break down, and analyze each in enough detail to have an antidote to each. And assuming she was able to complete one, she would be defending Sasuke from Kabuto's attacks until the paralytic wore off and she couldn't guarantee his safety...

She shook her head--there had to be another way.

A moment later the familiar hiss of the gas filled her ears and her vision blurred.

* * *

Certain Sakura was down, Kabuto had Sasuke placed into the cell.

He needed time to clean and prep the lab again, so he told his assistants to leave the kunoichi--they could come back in a few hours.

* * *

Sakura forced herself to consciousness through the groggy haze the sedative/paralytic always caused.

"Sasuke!" She cried, seeing him awake, leaning against a corner. "Are you alright?"

He didn't reply and it took Sakura's eyes a moment to adjust before she saw the blood-stains on his shirt.

Running over, she said, "Let me heal you."

"Don't." He snapped.

"But it might get infected and if we're going to escape we need to be a full-strength..."

"I'm strong enough."

"Sasuke," She placed her hands on his face and gently turned his head toward her, "What did he do to you?"

"Nothing." He spat as he brushed her aside.

"You look a little pale...are you sure you're alright? If you feel a little weak you can..."

Sasuke didn't have time to register the fact that he was moving and it wasn't until he heard the crack of his hand meeting Sakura's cheek that he realized what he had done...

"Sak..." Sasuke stammered.

He couldn't read the expression on her face: It was definately shocked and sad...but pain was what he saw.

She rubbed her cheek as she backed away.

'Saku...Sakura...' He thought, horrified by his actions.

A minute later, the room filled with a green haze.

* * *

Sasuke didn't know how much time had passed before he woke up, but it was long enough because Sakura had been returned to the cell.

Her back was turned to him and she was curled against herself in the back of the cell. She was trembling.

"Sak...Sakura...are...are you...alright?" He asked.

"Hmmm." She replied hastily, nodding her head.

"Can...I...can I help?"

"Uhhhh." She said, shaking her head as she tightened against her knees.

'Did he do that to her...did he make her...relive it all...' He wondered.

He remembered the genjutsu vividly: It forced him to relive every unhappy event, thought, expression, decision...every negative moment over and over again until he hoped for death.

"Sakura!" He cried as he lunged, gathering her shivering and pale form into his arms.

"Can you ever forgive me?" He asked.

Sakura nodded, pressing her cheek against his chest.

"From now on, I promise, I'll be the man I should have been years ago."

It was in that dark, cold cell, holding a broken, trembling woman that Sasuke realized that Sakura was everything he needed and more than he ever wanted.

He would do it right this time: He would protect her without putting her down and acknowledge her as an equal.

This time _would _be different.

TBC

* * *

**So, what do you think? I know Sasuke seems a little OOC, but remember, he lost to Itachi so hugely it changed his entire outlook on life. So yes, he is still a sardonic, insulting bastard. But he's not confused anymore. **


	12. Chapter 12

_Chapter Twelve: Shattered Glass--It begins to fall apart_

Disclaimer: Please review the previous disclaimers!

Tsunade massaged her temples as she reviewed the events of the past few days: Sasuke and Sakura were missing--presumed captives of Oto based on the evidence of Kabuto's presence in her apartment--Naruto was threatening to defect and go after them, and her hospital was backed-up with patients; mostly shinobi with minor injuries they couldn't explain in obscure places; a scratch on their chest or a bruise above their kidneys.

Growling in frustration, she looked over the ANBU report. They had been sent to scout Oto but claimed the only signs of movement--let alone inhabitation--were their own. Obviously, after Sasuke had taken Orochimaru out, Kabuto had relocated. But where?

Reminding herself that Sakura was her apprentice--and quickly gaining more and more ground on Tsunade--and that Sasuke was the Uchiha prodigy, she felt a strange calm. They were both capable, fast, strong shinobi.

And Tsunade was a Kage, not just to them, but to hundreds of other shinobi and civilians. They would fulfill their duties and she would fulfill her's.

888888

Sakura woke up in Sasuke's arms, even so the cold of the wet cell was hard to bear. The thin white silk slip she had on was damp and clinged to her in the worst places. She didn't even have her usually wrappings across her breasts. But she reasoned Sasuke was probably doing worse given that his shirt covered about a sixth of his chest.

"Sakura?" He mumbled, "Are you awake?"

She nodded gently.

"What time is it?" She wondered aloud.

"Probably about midnight." He replied, having kept inexact time since their capture three days earlier.

"Sasuke, last night, I saw him bringing in samples from the hospital in Konoha. And one of them had Hinata's name on it. If he's beginning to experiment with other DNA codes, then he must have already perfected it using the sharigan. And because the byakugan and sharigan are related, he'll be able to replicate the byakugan even faster." She said, knowing they needed a plan and quickly.

"What are you up to?" Sasuke asked, knowing she had a plan.

"I think that the next time he uses the nerve gas, I might be able to siphon it out of my system before it affects me. Then, I can pretend to be under its influence using a layering of genjutsu and medical ninjutsu to manipulate my vitals. But I wouldn't be able to help you until I got back to the cell..."

"Sakura, if it comes down to it, you get the fuck out of here and back to Konoha."

"You seem to forget Kakashi's number one rule." She smirked.

"Sakura..."

"Alright, look, if I can formulate a plan to get us both out before the next set of experiments, then you're coming--if not, I'll do what you ask me to."

Sasuke nodded and then pulled her closer against the chill of the early morning.

"Remember you word." He whispered.

888888888

The gas began to filter in and Sasuke nodded as he laid back and waited for it to take effect. Sakura spun her chakra, pulling the toxin from her lungs before it could be dissolved into her blood stream. A few minutes later the flow began to stop. She waited for Kabuto's foot steps before she activated the previously layered illusions and using her medical ninjutsu.

Kabuto, despite all of his experience, was no more the wiser and took her without realizing she was feigning every reading he took.

Sakura waited until she was tied down--loosely, she realized gratefully--and Kabuto had left the room to gather supplies before snapping the restraints and running t othe consel that linked to their cell. Releasing the antidote into the air, she slipped into the hall and back toward Sasuke.

888888

"Dammit!" Kabuto cursed, realizing instantly he had been tricked. Sounding the alarm, he took off after the kunoichi.

She was tricky...and she possessed the potential to be a real threat should she escape.

He couldn't allow the years of work he had put into this project evaporate because of one bitch he had underestimated.

88888

Sasuke was conscious before Sakura reached him.

"Ready?" She asked.

He nodded as he charged his Chidori. Sakura backed away, pulling her chakra into her fist.

Cueing each other, they charged, both landing precise blows to the hinges of the cell. The metal door crumpled, falling to the side as Sasuke slipped between it and the wall.

"Where are we headed?" He asked as he sprinted beside her.

"No idea." Sakura responded.

"What?"

"Just trust me. I found a short-cut."

And then Sasuke saw they were running right into a wall. At the last possible second, Sakura sprinted ahead, splitting the concrete and vaulting herself through the ruin of the wall without breaking stride. Sasuke slid in behind her.

88888888

"Here." Sasuke said as he turned the corner, the sound of approaching guards growing steadily louder.

Sakura hesitated, and when she did turn into the hall he was gone.

She looked back, the shadows of the guards dancing on the wall. A hand clamped over her mouth a moment later and she was hauled into the rafters.

"Shhh..." Sasuke whispered, holding her against his chest.

The shinobi passed right under them without a second thought. Motioning to the vent, Sasuke helped Sakura into it and followed after her, adjusting the grate as he moved into the tunnel.

888888888

Sakura kicked out the vent and jumped, falling into a defensive crouch before slipping against the wall. Sasuke slid down beside her.

"This way." She said, grabbing his hand and leading him.

And then they found it...

Hundreds of tanks holding hundreds of bodies...each with labels specifying what kekkei genkai they held, what village it orginated from, and the name of the host whose DNA they were infused with.

An eerie green glow danced across the dark room, emanating from the damned bodies.

"I see you stumbled across my little secret."

They spun to face Kabuto.

"Well, I can't have you running around telling everybody about this." A kunai slid into his hand.

"Can I?" He asked with a smirk.

TBC


	13. Chapter 13

_Chapter Thirteen: Darkness Falls--Twilight on the Horizon_

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!!

Sakura spun away from Kabuto's hand with several inches to spare...but the thin slip still tore and a small line of blood appeared on her hip.

Sasuke lay against the wall, shaking his head in an attempt to recover from a well-placed blow to the base of his skull.

Watching through his sharigan, he realized they were almost equal: Sakura's superior control allowed her to form and maintain a longer blade while Kabuto's experience resulted in closer misses.

Turning away from Kabuto's next thrust, Sakura glanced at Sasuke. He probably had a concussion and she needed to get to him.

Clenching her teeth, she blocked Kabuto's blade with her own: It had been an even battle; neither had landed a decisive hit--partially because neither of them was foolish enough to block with their wrists as they might in a goken battle because it would expose an artery--and both were effective at evasion. Still, all of them were holding back: Kabuto couldn't kill them because he would be destroying years of research, Sakura couldn't use her strength because of their subterranian position, and the narrow chamber simply didn't allot enough room for Sasuke to implement his Chidori.

As Sakura spun away from another blow, Sasuke charged between them...oblivious to the fact that Kabuto's blade was now aligned with his aorta.

"Sasuke!" Sakura cried as she tackled him, pushing him aside as the chakra blade slid deeply into her hip.

They landed hard, rolling with the force of the impact in opposite directions.

"Sasuke!" Sakura called, trying to stanch the flow of blood with her hand.

"Sakura! Look out!"

Her head snapped back and she realized Kabuto was bearing down on her...his hand tightened around a curved kunai.

Sakura slid away to slowly and a piece of her arm give underneath the blade.

Gritting her teeth, she forced herself up. Medically, the curved blade was useful for lifting barbed weapons from a patient without the risk of overlooking one that might later become infected. But in battle, they turned simple lacerations into gaping wounds because they tore away entire chunks of flesh.

To stretch her rapidly falling chakra levels, Sakura skimmed over the wound in her hip and left the hole in her arm relatively untouched. Instead, she forced more chakra into her palms and feet.

'Think, Sakura, think!' The kunoichi yelled at herself while parrying Kabuto's senbon with her bare hands.

"Sasuke! Fire Ball Jutsu!" She yelled as she slid back from the force of Kabuto's blow.

"What?"

"Now!" She snapped.

Praying that she knew what she was doing, Sasuke sent the fire art directly at her. But rather than incinerating her...or anything else for the matter, it shifted, slipping into an orb around her form.

Sakura compressed her chakra into the smallest, densest point she could and then she released it, scattering the energy into the air in a ratio proportional to the air molecules.

"What the...!" Kabuto gasped as the flames fell into a slipstream that tore directly at him.

"Now!" Sakura cried, dragging Sasuke into the next air vent...to freedom.

88888888

They ran.

They ran, ignoring their surroundings until the compound disappeared not only from sight, but from all of their senses. Reluctantly, they slowed to a walk.

Sasuke walked ahead absent-mindedly until he saw Sakura veered aside and fall at a tree, using its trunk for support.

"Are you alright?" He asked as he knelt beside her.

She nodded, her breath coming in heavy gasp and sheen of sweat running down her chest.

And then he realized how dangerously low her chakra levels were.

"What did you do back there?" He demanded.

"I concentrated my chakra into the smallest possible point, then, using my masking chakra, I calculated the proportions of nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen particles. Then I threaded my chakra thorugh these particles to direct the slip stream." She replied.

"You need to be more careful." Sasuke smirked, ruffling her hair before lifting her onto his back.

At first she protested, weakly, but valiantly, and then she fell into an uneasy slumber.

The kind of sleep that was regularly punctuated by the knowledge that she hadn't finished anything...

88888888888

Sakura slept in Sasuke arms and in the middle of the night, her eyes fluttered open. And, perhaps it was her imagination, but the moon seemed more damning that guiding.

TBC


	14. Chapter 14

**_Chapter Fourteen: Konoha_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura crouched as modestly as she could in the torn slip she was wearing.

"We should be close enough..." She thought aloud.

Before Sasuke could ask questions, she was whistling in a pitch high enough to hurt. Wincing, he opened his eyes t ofind themselves completely surrounded by ANBU.

"Ryuu!" Sakura cried happily as an ANBU took her hand in a show of friendship.

"Sakura!" He exclaimed as he pulled her up, "The ground is not fit for you!"

"What are you doing all the way out here?" A kunoichi inquired as she wrapped her arms around Sakura's shoulders.

"I'll explain everything later, but first I need to talk to Lady Tsunade." Sakura said.

"Say no more." The third man assured her.

* * *

"What?!" Tsunade demanded, slamming her hands down as she stood up.

"And he has enough of my chakra to effectively replicate it. On top of the, he as already cracked the genetic code for the Sharigan and several elemental kekkei genkai. With those, the Byakugan is up for game." Sakura added.

"Shizune, I want ANBU Squad One ready for dispatch. Sakura, you'll be accompanying them."

"Hey! Wait a minute!" Sasuke protested.

"Relax, Uchiha," Tsunade told him icily, "You're going as well."

He lapsed back into silence as she amended several documents before dismissing them.

* * *

Sakura bathed quickly, changing into more suitable attire and supplying herself with extra weaponry and medical gear. Tying a sleeping pallet to her pack, she knotted her headband around her hair and stepped out into the night.

* * *

Sasuke had showered and taken the remaining time to eat a light dinner, meditate, and stretch in the hopes of generating some of the chakra he had used. When he felt as sufficiently prepared as the time allotted, he grabbed his pack and walked through the door.

* * *

"Ready?" He asked Sakura as he approached the gate.

"Yeah, but I wanted to give you something." She replied as she rummaged briefly through her pack before withdrawing a small vial containg about a hundred small, blue pills.

"They're a variation of the military rations." She added, sliding one into her mouth.

Sasuke did the same, tossing his head back to force it down. The results were instantaneous: He felt his chakra levels spike and plateau at their crest. His senses sharpened so crisply he was alarmed he had allowed them to fall so far.

"Is our little Sakura treating you to one of her concotions?"

He turned to see the same kunoichi from that morning walk up behind Sakura.

"Tsurara, you overestimate me." Sakura insisted.

"Nonesense!" Ryuu boomed good-naturedly.

"He's right, Sakura." The third--Hebi--whispered.

"We should get moving." Sakura suggested gently.

"Agreed." Tsurara nodded as she vaulted herself over the gate with the others following closely behind.

* * *

When he was sure Sakura was far enough ahead, Sasuke turned to Ryuu and asked, "So, how do you know her?"

"A bit of a surprise?" The ANBU chuckled.

"I didn't know she was on a first-name basis with anyone from Squad One of the ANBU Black Ops." He replied.

"Well, she wound up saving our lives: About six months ago, we returned from a mission in Lighting. We knew we were going to die...at least, we thought we did. We were found outside of the gate and it just so happened Sakura was nearby. I remembering opening my eyes and thinking she was crazy, trying to heal two of us at a time like that." He reminisced.

"But when we awoke, we were in the hospital--alive and well. In return, we began testing her poisons, antidotes, and rations in the field. Needless to say, we found her talent so impressive we began to tutor her personally." He concluded.

"I see..." Sasuke said.

"She's something special." Ryuu commented.

Sasuke had to agree.

TBC


	15. Chapter 15

**_Chapter Fifteen: Into Oto_**

**_Disclaimer: Silly rabbit! Naruto is for Mashashi Kishimoto. _**

Tsurara motioned for the cell to move forward. Ryuu and Hebi flickered ahead of her while Sakura and Sasuke crossed over, leaping to one one tree while using the other for cover. Peering from behind the trunk, Hebi gave the all-clear and the movements were repeated. They had to be careful--they were in the heart of Lightning, a village that had held contempt for them since before the first shinobi war. If they were caught, it would be labeled an 'invasion' and they would retaliated against Konoha.

"We're close, better to go on foot from here." Tsurara whispered.

Nodding, Ryuu gave another cue to Sakura.

Glancing back, Sakura leapt from the tree--landing lightly, she reached for a kunai, ready to deflect any weaponry that happened to come her way. Scanning for bombs, trip lines, and traps, she gave the all-clear.

As the ANBU took up their positions beside and around her, there was a faint rustle in the foliage.

The sound of shuriken tearing through greenary...

Flicking a senbon, Hebi deflected the star from Sakura and proceeded to toss another handful right back at the offending group. Tsurara jumped as another malstreom torn at her, somersaulting over the first line before coming to a graceful landing that allowed her to use the flat side of her katana as a makeshift guard. Beside her, Ryuu was launching his own weaponry into the trees and surrouding brush.

"Sakura!" Sasuke cried, a senbon entering his periphearal vision.

Sakura turned. Realizing it was too close to deflect, she threw her arms over her head. A moment later she was pushed aside as Hebi shoved her down while simultaneously parrying the needle and the ones that followed behind it.

"Thanks." Sakura whispered as she pulled herself up.

Sasuke--quickly growing irritated with the hidden opponents--pulled his katana and began to build up the chakra necessary to release the Chidori.

"Sasuke! Don't!" Sakura cried.

Instantly, he realized what they were doing: By shifting and throwing weaponry with seemingly haphazardness, they were keeping the enemy from pinpointing their location. The light of his Chidori would have betrayed them instantly.

And then, as quickly as it had begun, Ryuu and Tsurara had destroyed the opposition.

"Let's get going." Hebi suggested as he jumped back into the trees.

Nodding, his comrades followed after him.

* * *

"There it is." Tsurara said as she motioned to a massive patch of disturbed earth.

"I'll go right," Ryuu began, "Hebi scout out the perimeter. Sasuke go around. Sakura, Tsurara, left front."

Dispatching wordlessly, the took up their positions beside the subterranean complex.

"Remember," he added, "This is a recon only."

* * *

Sakura kept a kunai clutched tightly in her hand as she followed after Tsurara. Across the forest expanse, she could see Sasuke--as planned, Ryuu would infilitrate the base while Sasuke covered his escape. Hebi was in charge of early alert and they were to cover the back-up exits.

But is something were to go wrong, they would likely have to withdraw and regroup without Hebi and Ryuu--a potentially fatal situation.

"Sakura, relax. It'll be alright." Tsurara spoke so suddenly Sakura jumped, "Lower you chakra levels."

Sakura blushed with shame, having forgotten herself and losing control of her carefully erected barrier.

"It happens to the best of us." Tsurara assured her.

"Than..."

Sakura was cut of as the ANBU grabbed her and spun her away from a senbon. Withdrawing her katana, Tsurara drew Sakura close, laying the blade laterally across her chest with the blade pointed at their enemy.

"How touching..." Kabuto began as he slid his glassed up the bridge of his nose.

"Alpha-beta formation on my command." Tsurara whispered,

Sakura didn't nod, but she did tense in preparation for the complicated formation. She knew Sasuke had already withdrawn to the trees to wait for his oppurtunity to strike. Now, they just had to coordinate their movements.

"Now!"

Sakura ducked as Tsurara flung her katana at Kabuto like a fuuma shuriken. Charging in behind the blade, Sakura forced chakra into her hand and legns.

Dropping his shoulder, Kabuto evaded the sword as he pulled past Sakura's chakra blade.

Spinning, Sakura brought her leg around, catching his near the cheek hard enough to tear the skin. He retaliated with an equally hard blow to her left thigh.

"Sakura!"

Kabuto jumped away from Hebi as he brought his sword down over his head. Twisting, Kabuto drilled his foot into the ANBU's head.

"Die!" Ryuu cried as he came up behind the nin'i.

Kabuto ducked, losing several inches of hair before slicing the man's heart wide open with his chakra scapel.

"Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!" Tsurara cried as she propelled herself to a higher vantage point while simultaneously releasing a grip of stars.

But this time it wasn't Kabuto that stopped them...

At the last possible moment, another figure had thrown itself in front of him...

And successfully executed a Rotation that sent them right back at Tsurara.

TBC


	16. Chapter 16

**_Chapter Sixteen: Beyond The Worst-case Scenario_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto_**

Tsurara landed hard with a dull thud behind Sakura...several shuriken protruding from her torso and arms.

Grinding her teeth, Sakura withdrew a tag from her holster and glared down the synthetic Hyuga before her: Brown hair held loosely in a ponytail, white eyes, a slender build...not unlike Neji, but more built and more mature in his appearance.

"Move aside." She said, unwilling to harm an individual who had probably been brainwashed since his 'conception'.

"No." He replied, crouching in the stance of the juken.

'Your funeral.' She thought as she tossed the tag, bringing her hands together in the seal of the Tiger.

The water tag burst forward a stream so powerful in should have been enough to break his ribs. As expected, her preformed the Rotation--coming to a stop, he realized she had disappeared.

"Over here!" She cried, running side long at him with a senbon in her hand.

He spun to meet her, knocking the weapon from her hand and landing a blow to her stomach. Sakura--rather than fighting the momentum--used it to pull into a handstand, healing herself before she ever touched the ground.

"Behind you."

She ducked under a kunai as it arced where he head had been a moment before. Glimpsing her attacker, she realized this one had the Sharigan. Level Two to be precise.

'Fuck.' She thought, releasing her full fury into the ground at his feet. It was enough to knock the 'Uchiha' back in time for her to evade another juken-style attack. Beside her, Hebi was attacking Kabuto with everything he had, but by now they were surrounded by several Byakugan and Sharigan holders.

She felt the earth beside her shiver slightly and she realized without a doubt that Hebi was down--but the ebb and flow of his chakra told her he wasn't critically injured. Ryuu--having sustained chakra-based blows from both the 'Hyuga' and Kabuto was faltering and obviously Tsurara wasn't going anywhere.

'Where is Sasuke?' She wondered as she preformed a simple clone jutsu.

"Are you looking for this one?"

She turned to see Kabuto smirking over a critically injured Sasuke.

"That's it!" Sakura yelled, drilling her fist into the nearest enemy. If organized thinking wasn't working, she would brawl her way out.

Spinning, she caught one between her legs as she shifted and threw him into Kabuto. As she brought her feet down, she forced her remaining chakra into them. The resulting blow was just distracting enough for her clones to slip in and evacuate her teammates. Creating one last Shadow Clone to aid in the healing process, she kept up the distraction...layering genjutsu, taijutsu, and ninjutsu down so thickly even the Byakugan and Sharigan were hindered, she beathed a sigh of relief when her clone motioned to her that they were completely out of range.

Of course, she didn't have enough chakra to resist the advances now...

But nobody ever said she had counted on coming out of the mission alive...

TBC


	17. Chapter 17

**_Chapter Seventeen: Formation: Complete. And a Fracture Appears in Fragile Bonds_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto._**

Sakura backed away from the approaching enemies. She was out of chakra...Smirking wryly, she thought about how Naruto--with his near infinite chakra supply--made the Kage Bushin look easy. But she was learning first hand just how draining the jutsu could be. In fact...she didn't know how she was standing...

A Byakugan wielder took another step forward.

Smirking, Sakura reached for an explosive tag. If she was going down, she was bringing a few of them with her.

Sakura suddenly felt jarred and strained...like a puppet on a string...

She was crouching now, her fingers closed in a familiar seal--as was Kabuto and every one of his 'creations'.

"Hey! Forehead Girl! I know it's hard, but try not to do anything stupid."

"Ino!" Sakura cried gratefully as Shikamaru released her.

"Choji! Ino! Go!" The Nara ordered.

Choji nodded as he bounded from the nearby tree: "Partial Expansion Jutsu!"

Ino smirked, forming another seal: "Mind Destruction Jutsu!"

The nearest Sharigan-wielder pounced on his comrade and began to beat him as Choji swept through their ranks--Shikamaru releasing his jutsu mere fractions of a second before the Akamichi slammed into them.

But when he got to Kabuto, he found himself attacking a log...

He had gotten away again.

"Sakura, medical transport is on their way!" Shikamaru told her when they had finally finished clearing through the enemies--leaving most alive for Tsunade to deal with, they tied them up with chakra-wire and left them for ANBU Black Ops to take care of.

* * *

"Sakura, go home. You've been here for hours." Tsunade finally said. 

Sakura hesitated...she still had some work to do on Tsurara and Hebi. And Ryuu still had a nasty cut along his side she wanted to heal before it scarred. Not to mention Sasuke's battered lungs and ribcage.

"Sakura, you're out of chakra, covered in blood, injured yourself, and you've been working on them for four hours. Do I really have to tell you this isn't good for your health?" Tsunade said, planting her hand on her hip.

Conceding, the kunoichi nodded and left her friends and comrades in her master's capable hands.

But as she was washing her hands, she realized how far her home really was...the other side of the village. And it was already...

And then she remember something else...

* * *

Sai opened his door and stated, "Hey, Ugly." before he realized exactly how... 

Well, to be honest, she looked like hell: She was blood-stained, dirty, her hair was caked in mud and Kami only knew what else, she was scuffed, cut, bruised, and obviously running low of chakra, sleep, and food.

"I know...I know you don't really like me...but could I stay just for tonight? And I can always stay at Ino's if..."

He stepped aside.

"Hag, it's almost one in the morning. Ino would kill you."

"Thank you." She whispered as she stepped inside.

* * *

For all of his...subtlties...Sai could accomodate his comrades with suprising efficiency.Within fifteen minutes, he hadgotten her several towels, showed her to the bathroom, andgotten her a clean set of sweat pants and a T-shirt. Shortly after that, he had a cup of tea ready for her while she waited for dinner. And within half an hour, she had showered, changed, eaten, and was sleeping peacefully in his bed. She had protested at first, but he insisted on the couch...to the point of threatening to paint a spider to chase her to the bedroom. (A little known fact about Haruno Sakura: Her fear of spiders.)

* * *

Sasuke was released early the next morning and was on his way to see Sakura when a door across from the crowded street opened...and Sakura stepped out. 

In the same outfit she had worn two nights early.

With Sai.

Narrowing his eyes, Sasuke disappeared into the crowd.

And he actually thought they had a chance.

TBC


	18. Chapter 18

**_Chapter Eighteen: The Cracks Appear_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura got home, called the hospital and learned Sasuke had been released. Smiling, she thanked the receptionist, changed into the least tattered of her shirts and short-skirt combos and sprinted into the street, not bothering to lock the door in her excitement.

* * *

Sasuke knew it was Sakura based on the feel of the chakra behind the door. She knocked several times before he finally opened the door. 

"Sasuke!" She smiled, "Are you sure you feel well enough to be up?"

He glared at her, nodded, and went to close the door.

"Hey," She protested, stopping it with her hand, "What's wrong?"

"I just assume you're tired from your night _out_."

"What?" She asked, confused.

"You and Sai." He replied icily.

"Sasuke, he let me stay there because I live on the other side of the village. We're not an item."

"But you are a kunoichi."

"And what is that supposed to mean?" She demanded.

"It means you're trained to sell your body. To use it like any weapon."

"What are you implying?!" She shouted.

"Sakura, I never would have pegged you for a common whore." He replied.

Sakura felt her heart break. Nodding in resignation, she left before he could see the tears spilling from her eyes.

* * *

"Huh...hello?" Naruto grumbled sleepilyas he lifted the phone from its hook. 

"Na...na...ruto..." The other voice sobbed.

Immediately conscious, he sat up in bed and asked, "What's wrong, Sakura?"

"He...cal...called...me a...whore." She sniffed.

"Who!?" He demanded.

"Sa..sasu...sasuke.."

"Sakura," He smiled, his voice growing soft, "You're not a whore. You're still a virgin, remember?"

The end was a bit of a tease. But it seemed to cheer her up just a bit.

"Maybe...I...ju..just forgot." She teased back.

"Do you want to come over?"

"Wou..would it...be...al...alright?" She asked.

"Of course. We can get some lunch."

"Naruto...tha...thank you." She hiccuped.

* * *

By the time Sakura got to his apartment, it was clean--as was he. Dressed casually in jeans and a T-shirt, he left his headband on his nightstand and went to open the door. 

Sakura was a real mess: Her eyes were red, her hair disheveled, and she looked utterly exhausted.

"Hey, come here." He smiled, gathering her into a hug.

"I tried so hard, Naruto." She sobbed.

"I know." He replied, stroking her hair gently.

"I forgave him. I even trusted him..." She continued.

"Shhhh. Come on in and we'll get you cleaned up."

She nodded, grateful to have a friend.

* * *

Sakura and Naruto pratically lived together: When one or the other wasn't on a mission, they usually slept in the same house. Even in the same bed. But it was never sexual. They knew each other too well to let some bare skin and hugs interfere with their lives. They decided a long time ago they were platonic...like a brother and sister. It just so happened that being together comforted them--and in a world ruled by death and destruction, they needed that. 

Withdrawing the box she kept in his closet, she chose a white dress--spaghetti strapped with a bit of lace along the hem--for their dinner. It was a casual day, so she too forsook her headband and opted for a more comfortable feel. She left her hair down, having forgotten a hair tye and refusing to improvise with her headband. Slipping on a pair of low heels, she walked back out into Naruto's living room.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yeah!" She replied with a smile.

Naruto opened the door for her, closing it behind himself and locking it as they walked towards Ichiraku.

* * *

Sakura was more suprised than anyone when he walked back Ichiraku and took her to a slightly more upscale eatery. But it was nice...like a date without the pressure. And she wound up forgetting about Sasuke for a while.

* * *

'Maybe...' 

No.

He was an Uchiha and his eyes didn't miss _anything_. What he had seen was unforgivable.

What he forgot was that although the Sharigan didn't miss anything in battle, his eyes did misinterpret other things.

TBC


	19. Chapter 19

**_Chapter Nineteen: Misunderstandings Turned Lethal_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

"Hey! Sasuke!" Naruto called, waving happily as he ran up to the Uchiha.

"What is it..."

He was cut short when Naruto's fist collided with his jaw. Sprawling, he forced the bone back into place and glared at the annoying blonde.

"A whore? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!?" He demanded.

Sasuke opened is mouth, but Naruto continued.

"She gave you _everything_. Not once, but twice. And typical of the great Uchiha Sasuke, it's just not enough."

Shaking his head in disappointment, Naruto turned and walked back down the street.

"Hey, Naruto! We have business to finish." He snapped.

The blonde stopped, turned back, and glared. "No."

"Don't make me attack from behind." The Uchiha smirked.

What choice did Naruto have? If he refused, it would be a fight for his life. But if he accepted...

"Fine." He said as he turned toward Training Ground 3. "Let's finish this."

* * *

Sakura had gone to Training Ground 1 early that morning to perfect a kunai combo. She would need new targets in a little while, but rather than get them immediately, she chose to use the remainder and to practice some of her more complex genjutsu.

* * *

"Sasuke, you know this isn't a good idea." Naruto reiterated.

"And?" He snorted.

'Fine, Sasuke. If that's how you want it...' He thought as he ran sidelong away from the Uchiha, tossing a kunai as he leapt to preform the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

"That old trick, Naruto?" Sasuke smirked as he cut through row after row of clones.

* * *

Sakura formed a clone to spar with and currently was doing pretty well. Leaping over an earth-shattering attack, she spiraled behind the copy and struck it squarely with a kunai. In a moment, all that remained was a tendril of smoke.

She was aware of something going on in Field 3, but plenty of shinobi trained there so she wasn't concerned.

* * *

Naruto struck the Uchiha in the ribs with his knee.

A log appeared in his place a moment later.

"Over here!"

A kunai sunk into his arm. Crying out, the clone was destroyed.

"Behind you!" Naruto cried as he sprinted at Sasuke's vulnerable back.

Spinning, Sasukegrabbed his arm and flipped him over his shoulder. As he went down, he grabbed a kunai and plunged the edge toward's theblonde's abdomen.

But Naruto was faster, kicking the kunai out of his hand, he sprang up and flickered into the trees.

"Come on, Naruto!" Sasuke called as he forced chakra into his left hand.

Naruto leapt down from a nearby tree. Crouching, he formed the Rasengan.

"Sasuke..." He trailed off warningly.

"Naruto." The Uchiha snapped threateningly.

Sighing, Naruto stood, his hand holding the spiraling orb of blue chakra. Sasuke did the same, the electric energy of his Chidori springing tendrils of chakra from itself.

They leapt at each other with a cry.

* * *

Sakura saw a familiar gleam in the air...Rasengan and Chidori. 

'No!' She thought as she sprinted toward the field with every ounce of chakra she possessed concentrated into her feet.

* * *

'Twenty meters to go.' Sasuke thought as he brought his hand around.

* * *

'Fifteen seconds to interception.' Sakura thought.

* * *

"Ten meters." Naruto growled to himself, increasing the orb in his hand.

* * *

"Five seconds..." Sakura panted.

* * *

'Two meters...'

* * *

'One second to interception.' Sakura thought as she flung herself through the final set of brush.

* * *

'One meter.' Sasuke smirked. 

And then a pink blur vaulted between his hand and Naruto's.

TBC


	20. Chapter 20

**_Chapter Twenty: Tattered Cherry Blossom Petals_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. _**

"N...No...Sa...ku..." Naruto trailed off as his hand sunk into the flesh of her back.

Sasuke didn't have time to pull back and his Chidori tore into her stomach.

"Sto...p..." She panted--her eyes glazing over and her body sinking to the ground held up only my two hands plunged through her body.

"Sakura!" Naruto screamed.

They couldn't pull out...it was just too horrible...

"Sakura!"

They didn't turn to Tsunade and she sprinted across the field, tears gathering in her hazel eyes with Kakashi close behind, his mask hiding the blood coming from where he had bitten into his lip.

Tsunade pushed the two shinobi away from her apprentice as she gathered Sakura into her arms and began pouring chakra into her limp body. Her blood pulsed onto the ground at such an alarming rate that within seconds Tsunade had been stained red from her neck down. Smears of the crimson liquid dotted her cheeks, streaking pink as her tears mixed with it.

"Sakura, open your eyes. Sakura!" Kakashi told her, desperately ordering her to respond as he pulled her hair back.

"Kakashi, I need a kunai." Tsunade told him as she laid her down and tore open her shirt.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes in despair as he gave the weapon to Tsunade.

"Hold on, Sakura." She whispered as she cut her open. Sakura's chest cavity was exposed and her quivering heart was exposed.

Placing her hands into her apprentice's failing body, Tsunade focused her attention on Sakura's heart.

"I need Shizune." She said, straining to force more chakra into Sakura. Kakashi nodded, disappearing back toward the hospital.

Within two minutes, the two shinobi had returned. As she ran up, Shizune cried out, biting into her lip and wiping away her quickly gathering tears.

Taking her place opposite of Tsunade, Shizune began to close Sakura's ruptured liver and spleen and her mauled kidneys.

Kakashi kept her head in his lap, stroking her hair and begging her to open her eyes.

* * *

Sakura lay in the hospital bed, the only sound perforating the silence being the steady beep of her heart monitor and blood pressure read-outs. 

Dark circles rimmed her eyes andblood would soak through hersheets every so often. She had always been pale, Kakashi thought as she stroked her hair, but she had never look so...so dead.

The door opened and several orderlies along with Shizune stepped in.

"Sakura," Kakashi told her, "They're taking you for surgery. Alright?"

He sighed and nodded to them as he stood off in a barren corner, his head hung and his shoulders limp.

* * *

Tsunade pulled a surgical mask over her face and pulled her hair back before scrubbing her hands and taking her place in the Operating Room. 

Nodding to the nurse, she put a breathing tube into Sakura's throat, slid an IV into her hand--the only place where her deflated veins could be found--and asked for the scalpel.

Steadying herself, Tsunade placed the blade against Sakura's stomach...

And pressed.

* * *

**Eighteen hours later:**

Sakura was wheeled back into her room and hooked back up to life support. She was stable...but far from safe.

"How did it go?" Kakashi asked as Tsunade stepped into the room, still wearing her blood stained scrubs.

"As well as could be expected." The Kage replied.

"I see." Kakashi sighed.

"Kakashi...you know what I have to do..."

"No, Lady Tsunade. You've done enough, leave it to me."

She hesitated, but seeing he wouldn't budge, she nodded.

"I'll stay with her." Shizune offered, taking his handas he stepped into the hall.

"Thank you." He responded, squeezing her hand reassuringly before pulling away and fading down the hallway with each step.

* * *

Sasuke and Naruto both sat in chain, too disoriented to care where they were. The same scene replayed through their heads hundreds of times a second. 

"Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto, you are being formally disciplined for an illegal confrontation in which sparring rules and regulations were neglected, the result being the near fatal injuries inflicted upon Haruno Sakura, apprentice of our Lady Fifth."

They didn't even look up as the ANBU read the charges.

"Taka, I'll handle it."

They knew it was Kakashi...and they didn't care.

"Uchiha Sasuke, this incident being a serious breech of your probation, you will be handed over to Morino Ibiki for formal disciplinary action. Uzumaki Naruto, you are to come with me." Kakashi stated, freeing Naruto of his chains and leaving Sasuke to Ibiki.

* * *

"Is...is...she...Is she alright?" Naruto asked. 

"As alright as you can be with liquified internal organs." Kakashi snapped back.

Naruto hung his head in shame.

"Where are we going?" He finally asked after an uncomfortable silence.

"You'll see."

And he did...they were walking towards the Monument of those killed in action.

Kneeling in prayer, Kakashi said, "Sakura's name was very nearly added to this memorial today."

"I tried to keep her out of it..." Naruto trailed off, his hands clenched so hard that his nails drew blood.

"Naruto, I'm ashamed of you. You fell to Sasuke's level today and it will take you a long time to rise from that." He continued.

"I know..." Naruto replied, tears spilling from his blue eyes.

"Your punishment, Naruto, will be the freezing of you status for the next four years. Until then, you will remain a genin and will be assigned the missions genin are given. Furthermore, your nomination as Hokage will be thrown out for the next seven."

"But..." Naruto stopped, he deserved it...

He nodded.

* * *

"Uchiha Sasuke, as punishment for the breech of your probation, you are being removed from the ranks of Konoha's shinobi indefinately. You are confined to the village. Should you ignore these regulations, you will be labeled a traitor and a missing nin and you will be tracked until found and killed by our Hunter nin." Ibiki said. 

Sasuke nodded weakly.

"What about Sakura?" He asked.

"I have been ordered to divulge no information regarding Haruno Sakura's condition. I will, however, warn you, Uchiha Sasuke...today you've made more enemies than you ever did in your service to Orochimaru."

TBC


	21. Chapter 21

**_Chapter Twenty-One: Bedside Vigils_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

"Kakashi-sensei...is it true?" Ino sobbed.

He nodded, but added, "She's strong, Ino."

"Can I see her?" She asked.

"Tsunade said you can each have a few minutes." He replied. He didn't mention it was to say good-bye should anything happen.

* * *

"He...Hey Forehead Girl..." Ino whispered as she took Sakura's hand. 

"You had better be alright...or else I might have to..." She wanted to say "take Sasuke." but given the circumstances.

* * *

Ino was only the first in a long line of visitors including Shikamaru, Neji, Hinata, TenTen, Ryuu, Tsurara, Hebi, and the Sand Trio--who had consequently been in Konoha to finalize some contracts. 

By the time they were done, Sakura's room was filled with flowers, cards, even chocolate--which Tsunade had disapproved of, given that she couldn't eat anything solid anyway, but had allowed.

In fact, it seemed like Naruto and Sasuke were the only ones who hadn't come.

But Kakashi knew it was better that way.

* * *

This was a perfect oppurtunity, Kabuto thought. 

With Sakura incapacitated indefinitely and Sasuke and Naruto warring, he could strike against Team Kakashi and cripple them permanantly.

He just needed to move quickly and carefully and it would be over very soon.

TBC


	22. Chapter 22

**_Chapter Twenty-Two: Atonement_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura opened her eyes and--disoriented--tried to sit up. Crying out as her body spasmed in unbearable pain she fell back.

"Sakura! Stay still."

"Kak...Kakashi-sensei?" She asked as he pushed her hair away from her face.

"Hmm?" He asked as he turned back.

"Please!" Sakura cried out, "Don't leave!"

"Sakura, I'm not going anywhere." He assured her, sitting on the edge of her bed and letting her hold onto him. She may have been a kunoichi, but she had suffered two terrible blows that day. One physical and one emotional. Besides, they were all still children...children who had been forced to grow up too fast. If she needed to cry, he would be there--just as if she needed to scream or shout or curse or fight. He would be there this time.

"It hurt." She sobbed.

"Shhh." He whispered.

"I know," He added, "I know."

* * *

"Kakashi, can I put you in charge of her rehabilitation?" Tsunade asked, knowing the jonin already had his hands full. 

"I wouldn't have it any other way." He replied, glancing at Sakura who was sleeping peacefully thanks to a sedative.

"Good. I'll give you some time off. Try to get her walking. Not to far, but just a little."

Kakashi nodded, adding, "I haven't seen _them_ around lately."

Tsunade snorted decisively, "I can't bring myself to care."

Normally, Kakashi may have replied that as Kage it was her job to care about everyone...but today he just couldn't.

* * *

When Sakura woke up the next morning, Kakashi was there--having slept in the adjacent room usually reserved for families. But with her parents dead, he was the closest thing she had. 

"Sakura, let's go for a walk. Just a short one." He suggested.

Sakura nodded, grinding her teeth to prevent from crying out as she sat up and swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

"Easy." He said, helping lift her from the bed and setting her lightly on the floor. When he was sure she was balanced, he carefully eased off until she was supporting her own weight.

And then her knees caved.

Lunging, Kakashi caught her effortlessly.

"So...sorry..." She muttered.

"It's alright." He assured her, "Let's just get you some fresh air."

* * *

It was quite uncomfortable having your former sensei carry you...even more so in an open-back hospital gown. But nobody who looked at them did anything more than smile. 

"They're glad you're up." He said.

She nodded, a bit embarrassed.

"Kakashi, I want to walk on my own." She said as they got approached the stairs leading to the look-out beneath the Hokage's.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

She nodded.

"Alright."

He set her down, watching as she wavered before gripping the hand rail and pulling herself up the first step. He heard her groan, trying not to cry out.

He stayed close behind, ready to catch her should she fall. And several times he had to move to when she swayed, but she stubbornly refused to break-down or give-up.

"Sakura! You should not be pushing yourself so hard!" Lee cried out as she stumbled up onto the first landing.

"If you can do it so can I!" She replied, taking another step.

"You are not alone." He told her as he took her hand, Kakashi taking the other. They would be her support.

Apparently news travelled quickly, because now Ino and Neji were racing up the stairs towards them.

"Sakura.." Ino began.

"Don't try to stop me!" The chunin replied as she took another step.

"Then allow us to help." Neji said as he moved ahead of her, encouraging her forward while Ino cheered her on from beside Lee.

She could see the platform now. And Shikamaru and Temari smiling down on her.

Only ten more steps.

Closing her eyes, she forced herself up the final steps...and came to rest overlooking the village.

"Sakura, you can rest now. You did it." Kakashi told her as he gently squeezed her shoulder.

Sakura sighed, falling back against Kakashi. He knelt, letting her sit and rest.

A soft breeze lifted the green leaves of spring into the air and the noon sun shimmered brilliantly overhead. It was as close to a perfect day as anyone could hope for.

TBC


	23. Chapter 23

**_Chapter Twenty-Three: Fallen, Forgiven, Forsaken...Forgiven? pt.1_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

'Damn.' Kabuto thought. She was recovering much faster than he anticipated. He would have to move that night for his plan to move.

A minor inconvience.

* * *

Sakura woke as her window creaked. Looking over, she saw the shutter slam against the wall. 

Standing, she pulled a hospital robe over her shoulders and walked towards it. Looking out over the expanse out of habit, she pulled it closed and latched it.

"Sakura, you seem pale."

She spun to face Kabuto...too fast. Flinching, she clamped her hand over the wound in her stomach.

"I could have told you moving so quickly would have torn open thestitches." He smirked.

She knew she didn't have what it took to take him in her condtion.

She reached for a nearby glass...she would need to make noise.

Kabuto disappeared before her eyes.

"Wh..what?" She wondered out loud.

"Sorry," He smirked as he appeared behind her, "But Ican't have you causing problems."

* * *

Sasuke wandered through the streets aimlessly. He still couldn't believe his execution hadn't been ordered.

'Wonder how Sakura is...'

And then he saw a figure by the gate, someone flung over their shoulder. Wondering if it was a shinobi needing help, he ran towards them.

He was stopped dead in his tracks.

"Kabuto!" He spat.

"Ah, Sasuke. How _are_ you?" He replied as if it were a chance meeting on the street.

"Release her!" He demanded.

"Or what?"

Sasuke moved to take a step forward.

"Sasuke, I wouldn't forget that lovely tracking seal Tsunade gave you."

Grasping at the mark on his neck where the curse had once been, the Uchiha stepped back. He was forbidden from taking even one step outside of the gate or the seal would activate...and drain his chakra dry. He would die almost instantly.

"I'll see you soon." Kabuto smirked as he strolled off down the path with Sakura's bleeding form flung over his shoulder.

* * *

"Get me the ANBU now!" Tsunade screamed as Sasuke finished recanting his story. 

"I want Uzumaki Naruto and Hatake Kakashi as well." She added as she began to furiously scribble orders.

"Lady Tsunade I want..."

"No way in hell, Uchiha." The Kage snapped. "I don't have to remind you that her injuries were a direct result of your twisted ideas of power. You simply played Naruto, a forgivable offense on his part."

Sasuke hung his head his shame.

* * *

"If Kabuto has even a tenth of the resources at his disposal that we believe he does, Konoha is in for a fight. I want Sakura safely within our borders before then. ANBU Black Ops, you will be dispatched to Suna to procure aid. Team Kakashi, you have your orders." Tsunade said as she cued the move-out. 

"He was last seen in the Land of Rice Patties." Sai said as he flung himself into the trees.

"We'll go there first." Kakashi replied.

TBC


	24. Chapter 24

**_Chapter Twenty-Four: Fears _**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto! _**

Sakura groaned as she rolled over on her injured abdomen. She opened her eyes and recognized instantly the damp cell that Kabuto was so fond of. But she wasn't resting on the cold concrete...she had been sleeping on someone's shirt. Looking up, she realized that far from being alone, there were several individuals watching over her. Each held either the Sharigan or the Byakugan.

"Ar...are you alright?" One of them asked as he looked down at her through crimson eyes.

"Yeah." She replied, sitting up against the wall.

"My name is Kagemaru." The Sharigan holder said, cautiously holding his hand out in a greeting.

Smiling, Sakura shook it. The other's were quick to fall in behind him: There were three men, and one woman: Kagemaru, Ryuumaru, Gin, and Sango--she being the Byakugan holder.

"We're heard about our brothers and sisters--the ones you fought..." Ryuumaru began...

"We were left here to rot because we didn't want to fight you." Sango added.

"I don't blame any of you." Sakura replied with a smile. "When we get out of here, you can come to Konoha."

"The Leaf Village..." Sango's eyes grew wide.

"We've heard its an evil place..." Kagemaru said, "But I don't believe a word Kabuto says."

"Good." Sakura replied seriously.

"You were bleeding..." Gin began delicately, "I know how to share chakra..."

"I'm fine. Save your chakra." Sakura said, knowing they would need it to break out.

Skimming over the wound just enough to prevent a hemorrhage, Sakura focused on trying to find a weak point in the cell's design.

"Are any of the bars rusty?" She asked, testing the strength of the hinges.

"No...we've tried." Yuki sighed.

"Let me try." Sakura said as she angled her body away from the grating. Taking in a quick breath, she launched her chakra-powered fist at the bars. But far from crumpling, they reverberated her attack right back at her. Biting her lip to prevent crying out, she realized just how devastating her blows could be. She was starting to feel sorry for Naruto and Sai when Kabuto walked in.

"I see you're awake." He purred.

"Fuck you." Sakura replied evenly.

"Such language..." The nin'i tsked.

"I've been through this song and dance before, jackass. Get to the point." She snapped.

"You already know the point..."

"So, you're here to torment me."

"Exactly. And this time, I won't underestimate you."

"Go to hell."

"I'll meet you there very shortly." He smirked.

"Just fucking try to pull it." Sakura said, angling her body defensively.

"You'll cave soon enough, Haruno." He sighed off-handedly as he crept into the hall, humming a disturbing tune.

Sighing in relief, Sakura relaxed her tensed muscles and sat back against a molding wall.

"You're bleeding again." Sango said worriedly.

Sakura's chakra-haloed hand past quickly over the wound, sealing it again. "I probably shouldn't have challenged him. He might take it out on you guys..."

"Oh, no...he won't hurt us. He put too much time and energy into us." Yuki replied with a half-hearted smirk.

Sakura chuckled, stopping when the jarring movement threatened to tear open her stomach.

"Alright, then...back to this damn thing..." She said as she began testing the bars.

It was obvious they were made of a material similar to that which comprised Kisame's blade...but these had a much higher reverberation rate. They were designed to reflect any attack she or any of her new friends could muster...

"Hmmm..." She trailed off in thought, wondering exactly how she was going to get all of them out of this one.

TBC


	25. Chapter 25

**_Chapter Twenty-Five: Camaraderie Among the Condemned_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura woke early the next morning to find her cell mates clustered around her. Sighing sadly, she realized none of them could be much older than she was--and they had lived even less that she had...a few months and already sixteen years of their biological life had been taken by Kabuto.

"Sakura..."

She looked over at Sango, who was only just beginning to wake up.

"Yes?"

"Are you alright? You look sad..."

"I'm not sad...I'm angry that someone would do this to you." She replied, stroking the young woman's hair.

"But...we have you. And you promised we'd get to Konoha."

"A promise I _will_ keep." Sakura replied.

"See? So, we just have to look forward to that...even if today isn't so great."

"You're very wise, Sango...but you can't comprehend what Kabuto is capable of. And I want to protect all of you from that."

"We've survived this long...even if we haven't really lived. Can you tell me about Konoha?"

"When we get out of here, I'm taking you shopping. And then we can all get some ramen. After that, I'll find all of you sensei--if you want to be shinobi. If not, I'll help you find what you do want to do. And you'll find where you want to live and you'll meet all sorts of wonderful people--both Leaf, Suna, and Mist...all kinds of people." Sakura smiled, closing her eyes and tasting the memories she had.

"I can't wait to see it." The girl replied.

Secretly, Gin, Ryuumaru and Yuki had been listening and at last they couldn't contain themselves and jumped up, asking dozens of questions and cheering excitedly at her answers.

And then the cell door slid open and Kabuto stepped in.

TBC


	26. Chapter 26

**_Chapter Twenty-Six: Blood Vow_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

"Sakura." He smirked.

"Kabuto!" She spat, shielding her friends defensively with her arms.

"Sakura..." The medic nin trailed off warningly, "I _suggest_ you come..._quietly_."

"I'll make you a deal, Kabuto. I'll go quietly if you promise not to hurt them." She replied with a curt motion to the group behind her.

"Done." He shrugged.

"You're not getting off that easy. I want a _blood-vow_."

He glared at her, grinding his teeth slightly as he produced a kunai, sliced open his finger, and smeared it into a symbol. Forming the seal for the tiger, he nodded. It was done and he was bound to his word.

"And now I want the same from you."

"Sorry, Yakushi, I don't do blood vows." She smirked.

Cursing her and himself for not demanding one of her sooner, he hauled her up and out of the cell viciously.

* * *

"We're here." Kakashi stated as they slid to halt on the plateau overlooking the Land of Rice Patties,"Move out for recon and report back in one hour. Scatter!"

Naruto bolted left while Sai went right and Kakashi swung himself into the village directly ahead of them.

* * *

"You made a big mistake, Haruno." Kabuto told her as he flung her into a wall.

Sakura fell back, choking on the blood now rushing up from the lacerations in her back and stomach. But when she looked up, she was smirking.

Snarling, Kabuto dragged her up and back-handed her.

She actually laughed.

"What the fuck is the matter with you!" He demanded.

"Nothing compared to the problems you have." She replied.

"I will make you pay, Haruno!" He yelled.

Sakura continued to gaze at him with sheer defiance. She was kunoichi--pain _was_ her pleasure.

TBC


	27. Chapter 27

**_Chapter Twenty-Seven: Mobilize! A clever plan_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Gin beat furiously at the cage bars before finally collapsing back onto the floor. Sango took his place with Yuki, Ryuumaru, and Kagemaru taking his place.

"It's no use." Sango gasped, resting her hands on her knees.

"There has to be a way!" Gin insisted.

"But where?" Kagemaru replied.

"Shhh!" Ryuumaru snapped, listening to the faint growl of...of dogs? At the exact moment Kakashi and Naruto rounded the corner.

Pakkun halted outside of the cell.

"Is this it?" Kakashi asked.

The ninken nodded.

"Hey!" Sango snapped, "Are you looking for Sakura?"

"How did you know?" Naruto asked.

"Kabuto took her! You have to hurry!" She replied.

"Pakkun?" Kakashi asked.

The ninken nodded, they were telling the truth.

"Stand back." He told them.

The nodded, pressing against the far wall of the cell. A moment later the Raikiri tore thorugh the cells.

"Let's go!" Pakkun growled, taking off down the hall.

* * *

Sakura cried out as she was tossed against a nearby wall. Curling against herself, she prepared for the next blow as Kabuto raised his hand, now gripping a cruelly curved kunai.

"Now...Haruno Sakura," He spat, "You die!"

As the blade arced toward her, Sakura threw her arm up--at the same moment Pakkun dived between her and the blade, latching onto the nin's arm.

"Pakkun!" She cried, knocking the blade from Kabuto's arm with one well placed kick.

Slamming the dog against the wall, Kabuto let the injured ninken fall to the floor, kicking him away.

"Bastard!" Sakura cried, latching onto her enemy's leg in an attempt to shove him aside.

He flailed, attempting to shake her loose. But he made the mistake of grabbing onto her hair: Sakura turned, clamping her teeth onto his arm. She didn't give a fuck if it was primitive, under-handed or childish. She just wanted to hurt him-the closest to blood lust she had ever come. And she hated to admit it: But she _liked _the feel of his skin breaking and the taste of his blood.

"Bitch!" He cried, pulling her up by her hair. But Sakura held on, fixing her teeth even more firmly.

"Sakura!"

She knew it was Naruto. And a moment later she slammed into him as Kabuto wrenched her loose.

The blonde caught her, but before he could recover from the shock, she had leapt back at the nin'i.

"I'm going to kill you!" She screeched, chakra moulding around her fists.

"I'm getting sick of this!" Kabuto cried in exasperation.

"I'll fix that!" Sakura replied as she threw a right hook.

"Sakura!" Naruto cried, moving to help her. But Kakashi yanked him back.

"Naruto, she's in a complete frenzy! If you get in the way, she'll tear through you without realizing who it is! She's completely lost herself to blood-lust."

He glanced at the kunoichi--clothed in a button up shirt that barely skimmed the top of her thighs--throwing hate-filled attacks and blocking with an almost evil calculated cunning. It was like it wasn't even Sakura anymore--she had the same desperation in her eyes that Sasuke used to have, and the same evil that Orochimaru's did. She was blood-spattered, but whether it was her's or Kabuto's he didn't know. But he did know it only added to the eerie malice about her.

"We have to stop her." Naruto replied.

"Yeah. Look, in her state her chakra control will be compromised. We'll just have to risk it." He replied, shooting her comrades a look that ordered them to stay back.

"Scatter!" He shouted, assured they would stay out of the way.

Naruto latched onto her left arm and Kakashi restrained her by her right. She fought, kicking and struggling to reach a fleeing Kabuto.

Kakashi felt it before Naruto did and shouted: "Brace!"

A moment later an invisible shockwave of energy slammed against them, sending them flying. But thankfully it also exhausted Sakura beyond her limits and she sank harmlessly to the floor.

They crept toward her cautiously, Kakashi helping her to her feet.

She was cold...in the same way Sasuke was. She was damaged...maybe even broken. And that's what the first taste of blood could do to you.

TBC


	28. Chapter 28

**_Chapter Twenty-Eight: Broken Bonds_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura walked ahead of them, forcing her way through the bushes stiffly without the slightest concern that rivets of blood were running down her legs and arms and splattering her shirt. She hadn't said a word since they had broken through the compound.

But even before that she had gone as far as to shove Kakashi aside as she proceeded to decimated Kabuto's lab: Smashing vials, burning documents, destroying chakra tags, smashing tables to pieces, and shredding file results. Not even Sango dared to approach her and the only individual she had come into contact with had been Pakkun to heal him--in fact, shortly after when Kakashi tried to stop her she had back-handed him hard enough to draw blood.

"Will she be alright?" Naruto asked.

"I have no idea." The jonin replied honestly as he pulled aside a branch for Gin and Sango. Ryuumaru and Kagemaru weren't far behind. Yuki, however, stayed beside Naruto.

As the layers of green peeled back, they found themselves facing Konoha's gates. Wordlessly, Sakura walked right past the gate guard in the shirt that barely covered her and no one dared to even talk to her.

As Kakashi approached, he waved the new-found shinobi through the gates, nodding to the guard in assurance.

Far ahead of them, Sakura was headed towards the Hokage's tower when Sasuke stopped her.

"Sakura!" He cried, running up to her.

She reeled, driving her fist into his chest. The unconscious Uchiha landed about fifty feet from her.

And she continued on her.

* * *

Tsunade jumped as her door shattered and Sakura stepped through.

"Sakura!" She demanded, "What is the meaning of this!?"

Sakura marched up to her sensei, hatred pouring from her eyes.

"You!" Sakura seethed, dragging Tsunade up by her collar.

"You will put me down this instant, Haruno Sakura." The Kage replied, leveling her gaze.

Sakura gripped her with the other hand, shaking her violently.

"Why!? Why the FUCK did you let him back here!? Why?!" Sakura screamed.

Tsunade blanched, gazing at Sakura with a renewed understanding. Seeing the kindness in her shishou's eyes, Sakura dropped her head, tears pouring steadily from her eyes as she slumped against Tsunade.

"Why?" She sobbed, falling to her knees as Tsunade sank with her, holding her bloody, broken daughter.

TBC


	29. Chapter 29

**_Chapter Twenty-Nine: Blood_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Tsunade held her weeping apprentice, completely disregarding the fact that she was bleeding all over her, or that her tears were soaking through her thin shirt.

"Because, Sakura, he was our comrade. And as our comrade, he was our friend, our family...regardless of his choices, his mistakes." She replied, clutching Sakura a little tighter.

* * *

It took Sakura several days to recover and Tsunade never pressured her to tell her what had happened: She knew that Kabuto was well known for his use of genjutsu to torture his victims. But almost as quickly as she had snapped, she had slipped back into the Sakura all of Konoha knew and loved.

In fact, even Ibiki had made a stop at her house with flowers. Something unheard of from the stoic interrogating and more proof of Sakura's position within the ranks of Konoha's shinobi.

Of course, he wasn't the only one: By day three Sakura's house reeked so strongly of flowers that even Ino couldn't stand it for longer than a few minutes.

But perhaps the most interesting of the flowers were several stalks of shimmering gold and silver orchid lilies brought to her by Sasuke--a special project he had commissioned Ino for less than ten minutes after Tsunade had healed the considerable damage Sakura's blow had inflicted to his cardiovascular systems.

Smiling, Tsunade watched from her window as Sakura showed Gin, Yuki, Sango, Ryuumaru, and Kagemaru the village.

* * *

After a small tour, Sakura had ordered her new friends to report to Iruka--who would evaluate them and advise what place they should take among the Leaf shinobi.

She still had a training exercise to get to so she quickly switched her white summer dress for her kunoichi attire in Ino's bathroom before running down to the training fields.

"Sakura." Kakashi said with an eye-crease she knew was a smile.

"Hey!" She replied back happily.

"Ready?" Sai asked.

"Always!" Sakura said, pulling her gloves over her wrists pointedly.

Sai smirked in his own lop-sided way as she stuck her tongue out in mock arrogance.

"Good." Kakashi said, directing Sasuke to Sakura and Sai to Naruto again.

They took their respective place across the field. It would be a four on four fight--every _wo_man for herself.

"Go." Kakashi yawned lazily, withdrawing a recent edition of Icha Icha from his hip holster.

They sprinted at each other, each weaving through a sea of weaponry as they launched their own shuriken and kunai. Leapint over Sai, Sakura brought her feet down with enough force to shatter the ground; propelling herself away from the debris as Naruto, Sasuke, and Sai stumbled she lashed several lines at them.

A moment later three figures broke through the dust, each clashing each other as they worked their way down at her. Blocking Sai's katana with her kunai, Sakura ducked under Naruto's clone's clumsy kick. Levering the Shadow Clone's foot over her should she tossed it into Sasuke who somehow managed to side-step the makeshift projectile and came back at her with his own katana swipes.

Sakura was caught between two swords and one Jinchuuriki and somehow she was managing to block or evade anything they threw at her. Leaping over a cross guard, Sakura formed the seals for a complex genjutsu.

That was when Sasuke activated his sharigan, his back to her in the hopes of throwing her off.

As she snapped the jutsu into place he turned to face her.

Sakura gasped: It was all coming back to her...the screams, the accusations, the knives...the pain even she couldn't quell. And it was all held within those red orbs...the pools of blood that threatened to drown her in its bitter metallic taste like evil itself.

She screamed.

TBC


	30. Chapter 30

**_Chapter Thirty: Comfort_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura fell hard enough against the ground to split a portion of her scalp. She was wincing but not in physical pain...no, she was grasping her head the way one might if they were trapped in a genjutsu.

Kakashi was beside her in an instant, his book long forgotten and still hanging in the tree.

"What happened?" Naruto asked, kneeling beside her.

"I don't know." The Copy Nin replied as he gave distinct orders for them to back off...her chakra control was too erratic and that posed obvious problems.

"Sakura! Sakura!" He yelled, gently pulling her hands away from her ears.

She fought but in her emotional state she had no control...if she had not even he would have been able to hold her.

But it wasn't working! No matter what he did she couldn't snap out of whatever it was that so held her. And then just as suddenly she was quiet and coherent.

"Wh...what hap...happened?" She asked shakily as she tried to push herself up on her trembling arms.

"You tell us." Sai replied, helping her into a sitting position.

"I'm not sure..." She said, "I just remember the Sharigan..."

"Did Kabuto implement it in your torture?" Kakashi asked.

She nodded, biting her lip in reluctance.

"I see..." The jonin sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"I think this was just a one time incident seeing as you can look at the sharigan now without slipping into delirium." He said, warning her to be careful, though.

She nodded, agreeing with Naruto's suggestion to get some rest.

* * *

It was late when Sakura woke up and decided to go down stairs for a glass of water. As the Hokage's apprentice she lived in a house-sized apartment...but it was a real pain to have to walk all that way for clean water.

Sighing, she retrieved a glass from her cupboard and filled it with lukewarm water, unwilling to wait for it to cool.

And as she turned back she saw Sasuke...standing in her kitchen watching her.

"Sa...Sasuke..." She stammered, dropping her glass.

He ignored it, sweeping her into his arms and off of the dangerously littered tile.

"Sakura can you ever forgive me?" He asked.

"I should be apologizing to you." She whispered back.

He shook his head, "No, Sakura...you tried to save me."

"Sasuke..."

"Sakura...you can feel it, can't you? I know I can."

She nodded...the palpable tension that an impending war always created.

"Sakura...I love you." He said pressing his lips to her's.

She replied with such passion the answer could only have been 'yes'.

Sasuke broke away, carrying her up the stairs and laying her in her bed as he fell across her, their lips meeting once again.

"Sakura...I won't go farther than you want to." He assured her.

"I want to go all the way." She replied.

"I want to go all the way..." She said, wrapping her legs around his waist.

He nodded, knowing she wasn't simply reply with a lustful statement...she meant it.

If only he had known it would hurt her far more later.

TBC

* * *

**_Sorry it was so short. I needed a bridge chapter: Far warning, the next few chapters are going to be dark beyond belief. If you have any suggestions just put them into a review. My PM is freaking out. _**


	31. Chapter 31

**_Chapter Thirty-One: Shatter My Heart, Sasuke. _**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

The call to arms came early--a blaring siren that told them the enemy was near.

Sakura woke to it, feeling the space beside her. It was cold and empty.

But she smiled nonetheless. Wiping herself with a wash clothe to wash away the smells of their passion, she threw her clothes on, gathering every weapon she could find and clipping a bag of medical supplies to a holster on her right hip. Her left hip holster held explosive tags, shuriken, smoke grenades, kunai, and poisons.

As she ran from her house a messenger called to her; telling her she and her cell were on the front lines. She nodded, not bothering to look back.

There was a palpable tension as Sakura took her place among the rows of shinobi that lined the battlements of the gate, the roof tops of the homes, and the trees surrounding Konoha.

For a moment there was nothing but silence...and then all hell broke loose. Moulding her chakra around her feet, Sakura leapt over a row of shuriken. Twisting, she released a spray of senbon at the offending Oto shinobi. Flipping around, she brought her legs down on top of another with enough force to shatter the unfortunate ninja's chest.

Kakashi had already loosed his ninken and their growls were just as prominent a sound as the resounding clang of metal meeting metal and the cries of rage.

Seeing a row of Byakugan holding shinobi coming at her, Sakura called to Sasuke and Naruto.

"Ready?" She asked as they landed beside her.

The nodded, each biting into his or her thumb. Forming the seals in tandem they slammed their hands down, a seal forming around them.

"Summoning! Katsuyu!" Sakura yelled.

"Go, Mandara!"

"Gamabunta!"

The massive summons erupted from beneath them, lifting them far above the Oto nin.

"Take them down." Sakura said, releasing an explosive tag.

Katsuyu nodded, spitting rivers of noxious acid at the enemy. Beside her, Gamabunta was carving valleys with his sword and Mandara was breathing flames upon Oto's forces.

"I'm going after Kabuto!" Sakura said, seeing him slip behind their lines.

Without waiting for them to argue, she sprung onto a nearby roof and pursued her most hated enemy.

Sakura tossed a kunai only to have it parried by his. But she still had the high ground.

Running along the roof tops, she released weapon after weapon--all of which he either parried or evaded. But he couldn't get a hit in on her, either.

He leapt at her, his hand glowing.

But Sakura pushed him back with her own Mystic Palm, letting him fall back to the street while she continued to toss senbon and liquid poisons at him. They were nearing the gate that surrounded Konoha's rear flank. They would either finish it there or in the forest behind it.

"I'm going after Sakura!" Sasuke called.

Naruto nodded, ordering Gamabunta on.

Tsunade weaved through a sea of senbon, drilling her fist into the offender before tossing his body over her shoulder and into a knot of his comrades.

Thrown, they had no time to parry her next attack.

* * *

Kabuto leapt over the gate. Sakura crouched, ready to do the same when Sasuke called to her.

"You're needed on the front lines!" He said.

She bit her lip, reluctant to let the nin'i escape.

"I'll take care of him." Sasuke assured her.

She nodded, turning on her heel and sprinting back towards the fray as Sasuke cleared the wall in one bound.

* * *

Naruto turned to see the attack coming at his blind spot too late to stop it. The gleam of the kunoichi's blade blinded him and he waited for the pain.

"Die!"

But that was a familiar voice...as was the resounding sound of bone cracking under Sakura's unwavering fist.

"Naruto! Are you alright?" She asked.

"Yeah. But Shizune and Ino aren't." He replied.

Sakura nodded, sprinting towards the makeshift medical tent. Kneeling beside Ino she knit her friend's wounds back together, turning to Shizune an instant later. She lost herself quickly in her work, one hand on one patient, the other on another...moving so quickly she was a blur of green chakra. She didn't know how long she had been there before she was called back to battle.

"Hey, Ugly!" Sai yelled, landing hard beside the tent, "We need help."

Sakura wiped the sweat from her forehead, nodding to Shizune to take over now that she was back on her feet.

Sasuke cornered the nin'i, his blade gripped tightly in his hand.

"Good. I had hoped to get you alone." Kabuto sneered.

Sasuke didn't reply.

"I thought you might be interested to know that I have thousands of kekkei genkai holders now."

Sasuke's eyes widened almost imperceptibly...but Kabuto didn't miss it.

"I have a deal to make with you." Kabuto said, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

Sakura cried out, fighting not to fall into the Mangakeyo Sharigan.

'Pull it together, Haruno!' She screamed as she brought her hands together in the seal of the Tiger. "Release!"

She felt reality come rushing back disarmingly and had to hesitate for a moment. A moment that would have been fatal if Kakashi had rammed his electrically charged fist through the Sharigan wielder at that exact moment.

"Sakura, pull back." He said, pushing the corpse off of his forearm.

She shook her head.

"You're almost out of chakra. Pull back."

"No." She replied blatantly, standing and pulling a weapon from her holster. "I'm a kunoichi--and I will fight and die as any other shinobi."

"I'm going after Sasuke and Kabuto." She added.

Kakashi nodded and--knowing she wouldn't be detoured--handed her a military rations.

She smiled gratefully, throwing her head back to force the pill down her dry throat as she sprung into a nearby tree and sprinted in the opposite direction.

* * *

"What kind of deal?" Sasuke asked.

"The kind that ensures the ones you love live." Kabuto replied vaguely.

* * *

Sakura found the forest scarred...remains of a battle that continued into a nearby valley. Burned trees, leaves cut instead of ripped by a chakra blade, craters where their feet had landed to hard...

Taking only a second to catch her breath, Sakura ran into the desert valley.

* * *

"Work for me and I'll let them live. Naruto and _Sakura_."

Sasuke swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. If what the nin'i said was true...this was her only hope.

He nodded, dropping his blade and approaching the medic.

"Sasuke!"

He turned to see Sakura breaking through the dust veils and freezing when she saw his extended hand. She shook her head in disbelief.

"No...please...please don't..." She muttered, bringing her hands over her heart.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, turned back, and took Kabuto's hand.

And Sakura felt her heart break all over again.

TBC


	32. Chapter 32

**_Chapter Thirty-Two: Amaranth_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or Amaranth by Nightwish!_**

Sakura turned away, a heart rendering cry caught in her throat.

_Baptised with a perfect name. The doubting one by heart. Along without himself. War between him and the day. Need someone to blame. In the end, little he can do alone. You believe but what you see? You recieve but what you give. _

"Sasuke!" She cried.

"Go home, Sakura." He replied, charging his katana blade with the Chidori.

She couldn't believe it...and after she had...after she had...

"Now, Sakura." He said, his blade pulsing more fiercely.

"I won't!" She cried, throwing her arms out defensively.

_Caress the one the never fading rain in your heart. The tears of snow white sorrow. Caress the one, the hiding amaranth in the land of the daybreak. _

"Then I'll leave you." He replied, disappearing along with Kabuto.

_Apart from the wandering pack. In this brief flight of time, we reach for the ones who ever dare. _

Sakura fell to her knees, her breath hitched painfully in her chest. She looked at her trembling hands, remembering that only a night before she had given him everything. Everything.

_You believe but what you see? You recieve but what you give. Caress the one the never fading rain in your heart. The tears of snow white sorrow. Caress the one the hiding Amaranth in the land of the daybreak. Reaching, searching for something untouched. Hearing voices of the never fading calling. Caress the one the never fading rain in your heart. Caress the one, the hiding Amaranth in the land of the daybreak. Rain, rain!_

She wrapped her arms around herself and sobbed.

"Sakura!" Naruto cried happily as she appeared through the dust.

She didn't reply, she just turned her head away as she walked mutely past him.

"Sa...sakura..." He trailed off.

She didn't turn back.

But the moment she saw Tsunade her facade crumbled, her face twisting up in a sob. She ran into her surrogate mother's arms, oblivious of the sets of eyes now on her.

"He betrayed me...us..." She cried.

"Shhh...it'll be alright..." Tsunade replied, clutching her apprentice.

Sakura didn't have the heart to tell her what she had given him: Her virginity.

Sasuke looked back frequently as Konoha grew steadily smaller. He hoped one day she would forgive him...even if she never did see him again.

But he deserved all the hatred she probably felt.

TBC


	33. Chapter 33

**_Chapter Thirty-Three: Dispatch--The Final Solution_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura wept hard for more than a day before she finally steeled herself: She knew that Tsunade wouldn't...couldn't forgive another betrayal. Especially not to Oto.

And if it was necessary for him to die, she wanted to be the one to do it. It was no less than he deserved.

She had fought and cried and bled to see him come home...given him everything three times over...and it hadn't mattered at all.

In fact, she had asked specifically to be included on the assassination mission. And Tsunade had granted her permission.

* * *

Sakura dressed slowly--she wasn't going to use her traditional shinobi attire.

No...

She pulled out a black leather corset, strapless and snug with a sheath on the small of the back. It had a pair of matching pants, each with multiple pockets and holsters running up and down each leg. Trading her red headband for a black one, she pulled on a different set of boots: These laced up with buckles every other inch meant to keep the laces down. They had the basic combat heel--a blade hidden inside of them that could be released with a twist of the ankle. She pulled her gloves over her slender wrists and tied her headband in place.

Slipping a katana into the sheath on her back and the sheath on the outer side of her right leg, she attached three holsters around her hips: Her left one held weapons, the holster just under the katana held autopsy materials used to destroy shinobi bodies, and the right one held medical supplies.

She stole one last glance at herself in the mirror through the darkness of the late night. The dim moonlight afforded little little light...just enough for her to see the blood lust in her eyes.

The old Sakura would have been horrified, but she didn't fight it. She didn't embrace it...but she didn't fight it.

* * *

"Sa...Sakura..." Naruto trailed off, watching her walk past him and converge with Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru.

"Sakura, you don't have to do this!" The blonde cried frantically.

She hesitated, turned angularly to him as she glanced at the moon. And then the corners of her lips turned up...

"I want to." She smirked, taking her place among the small group.

Even Neji had to admit that the one kind kunoichi disturbed him now. It was the same feeling he had recieved from Sasuke in their genin years--a kind of battle within himself between good and evil.

But the idea of Sakura as anything but loving was foreign to him.

Sighing, he remembered that in the last few months she had been blinded, stabbed, attacked, used as a subject for experiments, violated, and betrayed multiple times.

He would _not_ hold it against her.

TBC


	34. Chapter 34

**_Chapter Thirty-Four: Moonlit Encounters: Feel the Beat of the Drums Drawing Near_**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto!_**

Sakura shifted into a nearby tree, her hand holding the hilt of the katana on her back lightly. Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru fell in beside her, each primed to attack, each ready to defend.

"Scatter." Sakura whispered, the wind brushing her lips and shattering the clarity of her voice.

* * *

Shikamaru scanned the area quickly, using the long shadows the full-moon cast to his advantage.

Motioning that the coast was clear, they moved--Shino flipping himself up into the ceiling rafters while Sakura and Neji took the roof with Shikamaru covering the ground.

"Uchiha is mine." She reminded them, lauching herself in the opposite direction.

They simply nodded.

* * *

Sasuke woke up in a cold sweat, holding his head between his hands.

He still couldn't believe what he had done to her: Shared a night of passion and then left her to rot...again. Groaning, he stood, wrapped a shirt around his muscular chest and vaulted himself threw his open window.

* * *

Sakura heard a small clatter behind her...the sound of flesh meeting the hilt of a katana as they withdrew it from an enameled sheath. It took her a moment to realize it was her own hand...trembling violently.

Her face twisting his disguise, she slammed her other hand down on top of the offending limb, her nails digging into her skin hard enough to draw blood.

Sasuke made his way up to the plateau overlooking Kabuto's operations: Centered in the middle of a dead valley surrounded by miles of marshland, it was the perfect place to conduct a war.

Sighing, he realized just how _**much**_he hated to do it...but perhaps he could aid Konoha from the inside out.

And then he caught a familiar scent...a familar chakra scattering across his skin...but a hatred he didn't know...

Turning, he saw a figure jump from a nearby tree onto the edge of the cliff...if it hadn't been for the moonlight filtering through her green eyes and illuminating her pink hair, he wouldn't have known it was Sakura.

"So, Sasuke...it appears we've come to an end..." She trailed off, sliding the katana from its sheath on her back.

"Sa...Sakura..." He trailed off.

Sakura charged him so quickly he didn't have time to activate his sharigan. She slid past him, severing the nerves in his eyes with her scalpel and landing behind him, rebounding and arcing her blade at his back.

He ducked, rolling away from the blade and jumping up.

Sakura launched a kunai, spinning it expertly to sever the hamstring in his leg.

He barely side-stepped the projectile, circling around her. He just needed to knock her out.

Sakura flipped over him, slamming her fist into the ground before rolling into a handstand to avoid the wreckage.

Sasuke leapt into the air, dodging most of the earthy debris.

But he was too slow...she was behind him, slamming her fists into his chest and finishing him with a round-house that even Neji couldn't top.

He slammed into the ground, the earth cratering around him as she landed in a crouch several feet of, her hands gripping the hilt of her katana firmly.

But she didn't approach...because behind her, down in the valley, were the tens of thousands of genetically altered subjects...now marching towards war with Konoha.

Sakura stood...torn between her duty and her revenge...her love and her hate.

She turned to him, raising the blade slightly and stepping forward. And then hesitating as her lips trembled..

"DAMMIT!" She screamed, "DAMMIT! WHY CAN'T I KILL YOU!?"

Her screaming faded to a sob, her katana's edge dropping.

She turned away, twisting her head to look at him sadly.

"I love you, Uchiha Sasuke." She said with a troubled expression.

"And for that, I hate myself." She sighed, leaping into the canyon below with the intention of beating them to Konoha.

TBC


	35. Chapter 35

_**Chapter Thirty-Five: Back to Konoha**_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. _**

Sakura leapt into the trees, blocking the weapons that an entire army was now tossing at them.

"We have to get back!" She cried desperately, slashing through her opponent.

"I know!" Neji gasped, swinging himself up onto another branch...the steady drumbeat of feet growing nearer.

* * *

Sakura fell, her ankle twisting as she tripped over a root.

"Keep going!" She cried, gritting her teeth as she stood on it. The ankle wasn't a weight bearing bone--if she could stand, she could run!

Neji knelt beside her, hauling her up by her arm and supporting her with his shoulder.

"Watch out!" Shikamaru cried, tossing a kunai to deflect the senbon travelling at them.

Shino retalitated, sending his insects into the dense brush, an agonized scream following their assualt.

"Keep going!" Sakura repeated, hauling herself onto another branch.

* * *

"Go get the Hokage!" Sakura said, sliding to a halt outside of the gates, her katana clutched firmly in her hand.

"No need, Sakura."

She fell to her knees, the gates opening...

"Tsunade!" She cried, forgetting all etiquette as the wooden barriers swung open to reveal Konoha's full force.

"Ho...How?" Shikamaru asked.

Tsunade smirked, holding out her hand where a small black insect sat on her prim finger.

Sakura threw her arms around Shino, kissing his cheek. "You're fucking incredible!" She screamed.

Even Neji was forced to agree! Without him, Konoha would have been caught off guard.

"Perhaps we should save the festivities for after the battle." The Aburama heir said mildly.

"Agreed." Tsunade smirked, raising her arm, "Konoha! Take...them...down!" Her hand fell, cueing the immediate strike.

The war was on!

TBC


	36. Chapter 36

_**Chapter Thirty-Six: Back to Konoha**_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. _**

Neji smirked as the Sound shinobi drew nearer.

"Do you care to rethink this assault?" He asked.

They didn't reply.

"Very well." He said, forcing his chakra through his tenketsu and spinning--sending all twenty into a nearby grove of trees which promptly exploded as Shikamaru released an explosive tag.

Behind them, TenTen was finishing a squadron of weapons users.

"The front lines are weakening, we have to hurry!" She panted, sprinting into the trees with Neji close behind.

* * *

Sakura cried out in rage as she pried the hand of a Sound ninja off of her arm and spun, sending him flying. Tossing a kunai at the kunoichi coming at her left, she slammed her chakra-honed hand into the chest of another, severing the aorta of his heart.

"Sakura!"

She turned to see Naruto fending off wave after wave of attackers with Rasengan.

"Shizune's cornered!" He cried, crouching on top of a lamp post as he parried a shuriken away from his face.

Sakura nodded, leaping over the gate and vaulting herself into the fray now threatening to spill over into the village.

'Anko still doesn't have all of them out yet!' She thought.

And there wasn't much she could do but hope that they could hold out just a little longer.

* * *

Shino sat back and let his insects take care of his opponents before turning to help Kiba--who consequently was having fun...

Shaking off his annoyance, he went back to cover Hinata's back as she rushed a small huddle of enemies.

* * *

Shizune slid forward, her sleeve pulling to the right as she tugged the strings on the firing device centered on her arm. The poison running down the senbon quickly took care of who ever it hit...but she was running out of stamina and weapons.

"Shizune!"

The cry accompanied a pink and black blur that scrambled from the roof top, her leg extended. A moment later, the ground erupted, sending the enemy shinobi flying. Without missing a beat, Sakura withdrew five senbon from her shirt and snapped her wrist--her opponents were dead before they hit the ground.

"Sakura!" Shizune gasped happily.

"Sorry it took me so long!" Sakura smiled, hugging her former mentor.

* * *

Sasuke marched forward methodically...he didn't have long to choose where his allianced lied...

TBC


	37. Chapter 37

_**Chapter Thirty-Seven: My Choice!**_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. _**

Sakura had long departed from Shizune's side as she again took up her position defending Konoha's rear flank...but this time she was alone. Most of her fellow shinobi and kunoichi had died beside her or were carried away by medics. Thankfully, assaults had been small and infrequent on her position.

But visibilitywas poor--a low fog hiding everything until it was right on top of her--and she was guarding a canyon that provided Konoha with some defense...

Seeing a flicker in the mist, she called out, demanding that the figure announce their NRN, name, age and rank.

There was no reply.

A second later a shuriken tore through the fog. Acting quickly, Sakura side stepped it, catching it and flinging it right back.

"You always were a pest, Haruno." Kabuto smirked as he stepped from the blurry shadows, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

She stiffened, seeing another figure looming behind him.

Sasuke...

Distracted, she didn't see Kabuto lunged at her...She froze--and then instinct kicked in: She ducked underneath his arm, simultaneously sweeping her leg around at his ankles. But the limber nin'i flipped away, regrouping and charging her again.

And then he smirked...

Sakura turned, seeing an injured kunoichi stumbling towards her--Ino!

Her head snapped back as Kabuto tossed a needle dripping in paralytic.

"No!" Sakura cried, lunging in front of Ino and taking the needle to her leg. Groaning, she ripped the offending object from her thigh...her leg gave out and she fell to her knees as the clone of Ino exploded into a cloud of smoke.

"You bastard..." She trailed off...

"I just thought that I would throw a curve ball. And here's another..." Kabuto stepped aside, letting Sasuke take his place.

The Uchiha unsheathed his blade--

His calm facade remained even as he stepped forward, but his thoughts were tormented: Which was worse? For her to die at Kabuto's hands...or his own?

Sakura, on her knees, drew herself up as fully as she could and spread her arms, giving him a clear shot at her chest. Her eyes grazed him, unblinking emerald orbs.

Sasuke raised the blade...and thrust...

The sickening sound of steel meeting bone filled the air as blood spattered the surrounding area. Her emerald eyes grew wide as the crimson liquid spattered her beautiful face.

A moment later the dead weight fell to the ground...a still warm corpse.

Sasuke wrenched his blade out of Kabuto's chest and proceeded to cut Sakura's bonds.

"Can you ever forgive me?" He asked.

Sakura back-handed him and then took his bruised face in her hand and pressed her lips to his.

"I love you, Sasuke."

* * *

Tsunade gave a victorious cry as the last Sound Nin was driven from her village. Beneath her post atop the Hokage's Tower, her ranks were cheering in ecstasy. There would be time for mourning later...

Suddenly through the dust came two bloody, broken figures.

Vaulting herself forward, she landed in a crouch and sprinted towards her apprentice. Without warning, she had gathered her blood-stained daughter into her arms and was holding her.

"Uchiha!" A council member hissed as Anko helped him hobble forward, "As punishment for your crimes you will face exe...

"Stand down. I sent Uchiha on a mission to infiltrate Sound." Tsunade snapped.

"Then why did you send an assassination team?!" The old man demanded.

"Sound was watching--it would look suspicious if we didn't." Tsunade replied off-handedly.

The dejected council man ordered Anko to help him back to safety.

Sakura smiled, tears running down her face as she met her shishou's warm honey eyes.

"Konoha! Go get some rest!" The Godaime ordered happily.

As Sasuke walked past her, she whispered, "Uchiha, the next time you pull a stunt like that, don't expect me to cover your ass."

TBC

**_So Sasuke made his choice! Only one more chapter to go! Can anyone say "Epilogue"?_**


	38. Epilogue

_**Epilogue**_

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. _**

Tsunade sighed as she rested her elbow on the window frame, propping her head up on her hand. Konoha had recovered beautifully from the assault not three months earlier.

Behind her, Shizune was rattling off a list of teams expected back that day. And Sasuke's name was included on the roster.

Even before Sakura's melodious cry hit her ears, she was watching her surrogate daughter sprinting through the civilian-crowded streets of Konoha as the Uchiha stepped into sight.

There reunions were always glorious: Sakura would cry, Sasuke would smile...she would tackle him with enough force to send both of them sprawling onto the ground before she proceeded to press her soft pink lips to his. And then--in the middle of the street--they would lay, Sasuke holding his love as she buried her face in his neck. And a moment later Naruto would break them apart, hug her, nudge Sasuke, kiss Sakura on the cheek, punch Sasuke playfully and they would depart for ramen with Sai in tow. Sometimes even Kakashi joined them.

And as she predicted, the same scene played out a few stories below her.

"Step Three of the Assimilation process complete." She muttered, smiling to herself.

"Step three?" Shizune asked, looking up from her clipboard, "There are only two."

"Oh..." Tsunade replied wistfully, "I must have forgotten."

END


End file.
